Unhappy over the failure of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to mop up the targeted investment for first three years of the Eleventh Five year Plan, the Planning Commission has rejected the ministry?s demand for additional funds of Rs 22,500 crore.

Part of the money sought is to execute programmes that were not envisaged in the original plan documents, but were approved by the government later. These projects include special programme for development of roads in the left-wing extremism affected areas, building Dandi Heritage Route on National Highway 228 and creation of 1,632-km Vijaywada-Ranchi route.

The ministry demanded more money for expansion of entire national highway network to minimum acceptable standard of two-lanes, development of national highways (NH) entrusted with Border Roads Organisation and state public works departments (PWDs). The government implements NH projects on agency basis. It has entrusted 70,548 km of NHs to state PWDs (59%), BRO (5%) and National Highways Authority of India (29%). The rest of the length is yet to be entrusted.

?The ministry had demanded Rs 22,494 crore from Planning Commission during the mid-term appraisal of the road sector. However, the panel refused to give even a single rupee, saying that the road ministry has been unable to carry out the given projects up to the potential,? a government official told FE .

Even though road secretary Brahm Dutt pleaded ignorance, a ministry official said: ?The development is expected to delay the execution of the projects for which the money was demanded. The projects may now get started in more than a year because the money that the ministry has would be exhausted in the projects that were planned for the Eleventh Plan period.?

Commission data shows that roads needed an investment of Rs 3,14,152 crore from April 2007 to March 2012, the Eleventh plan period. Figures gathered by FE (published on May 6, 2010), show that the sector received investments of Rs 1,45,487 crore till March 2010. It should have attracted Rs 1,88,491 crore.