The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed that the government rescind a February 2000 mines ministry notification that has brought the use of ?ordinary earth? for filling or levelling purposes for building embankments, roads, railways and buildings, under the definition of minor minerals.
This has made environment clearance mandatory for even taking earth/soil from borrow pits (areas in the immediate vicinity of projects from which soil is taken for filling embankments, etc).
In a note to the finance ministry, the highway authority has proposed no separate environment clearance should be insisted on for the earth/soil because al highway projects commence only after obtaining necessary environment clearance for the project. Concessionaires already adhere to the conditions stipulated by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for borrow areas, it has justified.
However, the MoEF, in a recent office memorandum (issued on May 18), has made environment clearance mandatory even from borrow areas of less than 5 hectares. This has put several highway projects on hold as the authority borrows earth from a number of locations closer to the project site and also enters into deals with local farmers to borrow soil from their fields. Getting environmental clearance from the MoEF for such a large number of borrow areas is considered unfeasible, and could just delay development of highways.
?The state governments of Haryana and Punjab have stopped concessionaires from borrowing earth/soil from borrow areas. Due to this, work in both states is getting adversely affected,? said an NHAI official privy to the development, adding that the issue could also derail a lot of projects in other states too.
When contacted, a mines ministry official said that the issue could be taken up on a priority basis once a formal proposal for making changes in its 2000 notification is brought before it. ?The clarification could also be included in the new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill,? he said. A finance ministry official said changes could be part of a series of actions being taken by the government for removing bottlenecks in the infrastructure sector.
The NHAI is seeking faster decisions on the impediments it faces to speed up work on highway projects and bring back investor interest in road projects. The government aims to construct 20 km of roads per day but so far it has reached just half of the target at close to 10 km constructed per day. Moreover, existing developers are finding hard to mobilise funds for new projects, reducing their interest in road projects put on bid by the NHAI under the build-operate-transfer model. This has already forced the authority to put a large chunk of projects under the engineering, procurement and construction route where at least money is no issue for contractors.
The NHAI awarded 5,237 km between 2007-08 and 2009-10; 5,059 km in 2010-11; and 7, 960 km in 2011-12. However, the completion rate still remains sluggish. In the first three months of 2012-13, NHAI has been able to award just 99 km against a target of 1,500 km. Several projects during the quarter have got deferred on account of environmental and law and order issues. A concerned Prime Minister has now promised speedy clearances of projects, and has set up a monitoring mechanism for infrastructure projects, including roads. The Prime Minister’s Office has also scaled up the target for awarding national highways projects from 8,800 km, announced in Budget 2012, to 9,500 km.
?While the NHAI is awarding projects in bulk, implementation remains tardy as developers still have to run from pillar to post to acquire land and get various statutory clearances, including environment and forestry approvals,? said M Murali, director general of the National Highways Builders Federation.
Recently, private infrastructure firms, banks and lending institutions met road transport and highways minister CP Joshi and urged him to find ways to remove these obstacles. The ministry had targeted to build 3,000 km of highways in the current fiscal.
