Parliament Question: Delays in projects due to land acquisition

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 2979 ANSWERED ON 18/03/2026 DELAYS IN PROJECTS DUE TO LAND ACQUISITION

2979. DR. FAUZIA KHAN:

Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Ministry is aware that a substantial number of national highway and road projects, reportedly over 489, are facing significant delays due to persistent land acquisition, statutory clearance;

(b) if so, the steps being taken to streamline land acquisition processes, strengthen coordination between Central and State agencies and ensure timely resolution of compensation, rehabilitation and statutory bottlenecks that impede progress on these critical infrastructure projects;

(c) whether the Ministry has reviewed project appraisal and monitoring mechanisms to address implementation delays, facilitate early stakeholder engagement and reduce risks of cost escalation; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

(a) Currently, as per the available data, 85 under construction National Highways (NHs) projects are delayed by more than three years, attributable to various issues such as, bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances / permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law & order issues, financial crunch affecting implementation capacity of concessionaire / contractor, poor performance of contractor / concessionaire, and Force Majeure events such as Covid-19 pandemic, Change of Law, etc.

(b) to (d) The Government has undertaken various initiatives to prevent recurrence of delays and cost escalations. These include streamlining and expediting land acquisition and compensation using “BhoomiRashi” portal integrated with Public Finance Management System (PFMS) andGIS-based Land Acquisition Plan, revamping “Parivesh” Portal, to facilitate faster forest and environmental clearances, enabling online approval of General Arrangement of Drawings (GAD) of Road Over Bridge/ Road Under Bridge (ROB/ RUB), and leveraging the mechanism of review and resolution of bottlenecks / hindrances in ongoing projects, in active collaboration with the State Governments and other stakeholders. Government has also launched a web portal for Railway related clearances with defined timelines for various approvals.

The Government has put in place a strong framework using multiple mechanisms for monitoring project progress and contractor inefficiencies. Regular review meetings are conducted at various levels with stakeholders to assess project progress, and critical projects, such as those delayed by more than three years or pending for award/ appointment. Cost escalation is not incurred in all delayed projects. If delay is not attributable to the Contractor, escalation is paid as per contract conditions, which may or may not result in additional cost, depending upon final value of price escalation determined on actual completion of project. If delay is attributable to the Contractor, damages are imposed and there is no additional cost due to delay.

Many State Governments conduct coordination meetings led by the Chief Secretary to resolve issues affecting project execution. Projects where issues remain unresolved are escalated for further review through the Project Monitoring Group and also through “PRAGATI”. As a result of the above, no. of projects delayed by more than 3 years has come down from 152 in April'2024 to 85 in February'2026.

The optimal alignment for a new project is approved by an empowered committee keeping in view the viability of the project taking into consideration various factors such as the cost of the land, the time period for acquisition etc.

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