The Hindu Business Line : Govt may relax land acquisition norms for NHAI

The Government is likely to relax land acquisition norms for National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) road projects to help move the projects faster.

The new model concession agreement (MCA), through which the private sector gets involved, requires NHAI to acquire and hand over 80 per cent of total land required for the project to the road developer within three months of awarding the project. In case NHAI is unable to do this, it has to compensate the road operator. Given this condition, NHAI was not moving road projects till it had acquired or was assured of acquiring 80 per cent of total land within the stipulated time.

Helping hand

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is now considering a move to relax this requirement so that NHAI can hand over 50-60 per cent of total land required within first three months, official sources told Business Line.

According the earlier MCA, road developer was required to acquire land, while NHAI had to facilitate the process. "But now, NHAI has to acquire the land and even achieving 50-60 per cent land acquisition within the first three months is quite a task for the authority," said the sources.

Similarly, the Ministry is also considering a move to relax the utilities shifting and environmental clearance responsibilities that have been put entirely on NHAI in the new MCA. Earlier, NHAI was only required to facilitate these clearances.

New MCA

However, the Ministry would have to get a clearance from the Union Cabinet to bring about these changes.

After implementation of the new MCA, no road stretch has yet been awarded to any developer based on its conditions. The new toll policy, which was to be a part of the new MCA, has also not yet been firmed up.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has recently approved six-laning of 6,500 km of National Highways, comprising 5,700 km of Golden Quadrilateral at a cost of Rs 41,210 crore.