Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is trying his best to save the UPA government from any further embarrassment ahead of the general elections. With the government waking up to the fact that the ambitious national highway development programme (NHDP) has failed miserably on many counts, Ahluwalia has written to all the state chief ministers, urging them to make use of the manual of specifications and standards for four laning of national highways to be undertaken through public private partnership (PPP) for an early completion of the road development initiative.

In an attempt to prompt the states to hasten work in the state highways and help them in their endeavour, the Commission has sent copies of the manual to all the states along with Ahluwalia?s letter written in April. This is over and above the model concession agreement (MCA) for state highways, model request for qualification (RFQ) and model request for proposals (RFP), all published by the Commission for road projects to be developed under the PPP mode give the fund constraint of the government.

?This is the latest in a series of efforts by the Planning Commission towards standardising various documents and processes with a view to streamlining and facilitating the process of award and delivery of state highway projects,? Ahluwalia said in his letter, which further states that the documents are necessary for conducting a ?transparent, effective and cost effective process of bidding and award for concessions on state highway projects?.

The letter gains significance as a review of the progress of the NHDP, done by the Prime Minister?s committee on infrastructure (CoI), has found that even after eight years of starting the project, the NHDP-I, construction of the golden quadrilateral (GQ) connecting the four metros is yet to be completed. Adding to the chaos, the government has kicked off work on six-laning of the GQ estimated to cost Rs 41,000 crore while earlier programmes remain incomplete.

The review has revealed that under NHDP-I only 49% of the four-laning work was done in 2007-08. Of the total 7498 kms to be covered under the first phase, 443 km are yet to be four-laned. After several revisions, NHDP-I was slated to be complete in December, 2007 but the project is still on.

While under NHDP-II, a length of 811 kms was to be awarded in 2007-08 for four-laning, contracts were awarded for just 43 km, posting a dismal 5% achievement. Against a target of four-laning 2,013 kms, there was an achievement of 51%, with just 1,020 kms completed by NHAI.

Under NHDP-III, of the 12,109-kmlong stretch to connect places of social and economic significance, against a target of awarding concessions for 3,278 kms, there has been a meagre 9% achievement, with contracts awarded for just 278 kms during 2007-08. Against a target of awarding contracts for 2,995 kms under NHDP-V, only 882 kms were awarded showing an achievement of 29% during the last fiscal.

Of the total of 7,919 kms four-laned national highways under NHDP, only 61 % of these ?4,858 kms?are being tolled, as of December 2007, causing a massive revenue loss to NHAI. CoI has raised this issue repeatedly. The delay in the restructuring of NHAI, notification of the new toll policy, preparation of an action plan to address overloading of trucks and the creation of a road safety agency were some other issues on the CoI radar, and these too, await action.

Though delay in the implementation of highway projects is nothing new, the fact that there has been a substantial increase in the gap between targets and actual achievement in the last five years is alarming.

The accomplishment rate on four-lane projects is down from 81% in 2004-05 to just 49% in 2006-07, bringing down the progress rate in the entire 10th Plan period. Against a target of four-laning 1,283 kms of National Highways in 2006-07,

NHAI had only widened 636 km?a 49.5% achievement of their target.

Issues like incomplete surveys, clearance of forestland, permission from wild life authorities and tunnelling work have delayed the project, according to the ministry of road transport and highways.