Parliament Question: National Highway Projects in Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3271 ANSWERED ON 12TH MARCH, 2026 NATIONAL HIGHWAY PROJECTS IN MAHARASHTRA †3271. SHRI BAJRANG MANOHAR SONWANE: Will the MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री be pleased to state: (a) the current status of National Highway projects in the rural and backward areas of Maharashtra and the district-wise details of incomplete works; (b) whether the condition of roads in Beed district and surrounding areas is poor and if so, the action taken for their repair and sanction of funds; (c) the specific schemes being implemented by the Union Government for the upgradation of rural roads and sanction of new routes and the number of villages in Maharashtra that have benefited therefrom; (d) the safety measures implemented by the Ministry to reduce accidents on National Highways; (e) the timeline fixed for completion of pending flyovers, bypasses and widening projects; and (f) whether some projects have been delayed due to lack of coordination between the Union and State Governments, if so, the arrangements made to ensure their timely completion? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)(a) 116 National Highway projects including rural and backward areas covering a length of 2,612 km at an estimated cost of Rs. 57,360 cr. are under various stages of implementation in the State of Maharashtra. (b) The Government has prioritized the maintenance of existing NH network and inter-alia evolved a mechanism to ensure Maintenance and Repair (M&R) of all NHs sections through accountable maintenance agencies. NHs development projects are executed on mainly three modes i.e. (i) Build Operate and Transfer (BOT), (ii) Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) and (iii) Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC). Concession period including maintenance for projects on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) is 15 to 20 years and on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) is generally 15 years. The Concessionaire is responsible for maintenance of the respective NHs stretches within the concession period of the project. Only in case of EPC projects, Defect Liability Period (DLP) is 5 years for the bituminous pavement works and 10 years for concrete pavement works. For Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) and InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) projects, concession period including maintenance is 20 to 30 years. Concession period for Projects on Operate, Maintain and Transfer (OMT) is generally 9 years. For all remaining sections of NHs stretches, where DLP has ended or is not under any concession period of BOT/HAM/TOT/InvIT project, Government has taken a policy decision to undertake maintenance works through Performance Based Maintenance Contract (PBMC) or Short Term Maintenance Contract (STMC). While STMC works are generally undertaken for a contract period of 1-2 year, PBMC works are undertaken for a contract period of about 5-7 years. The Government has sanctioned work having length 38 km and costing Rs. 28.56 Crores under PBMC scheme and one work havinglength of 1.041km costing Rs. 0.73 Crores under STMC scheme for the stretches not covered under DLP. (c) The Government in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of NHs. The works for development of rural roads are sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). As reported by the State Government of Maharashtra, 804 projects costing Rs. 3442.23 crores and covering 3540 km of road length and 213 number of bridges have been sanctioned under PMGSY scheme in the last three years including current year benefiting 8187 number of villages. (d) Any accident that occurs on National Highways is notified on e- DAR portal and detailed cause analysis of the accident is carried out by technical consultants for taking necessary corrective measures for reducing the Road accidents. Immediate short term measures such road markings, signages, crash barriers, raised pavement markers, delineators, closure of median openings, traffic calming measures, etc., are provided for reducing the Road accidents. In addition to this, long term rectification measures involving improvement of road geometrics, junction improvements, spot widening of carriageway, construction of underpasses/ overpasses etc. are also on implemented based on the road safety audit of the accident spots. (e) There have been delays in completion of some NH projects due to existing Right Of Way (ROW) disputes, delays in land acquisition, forest as well as wildlife clearances, delays in utility shifting and other pre-construction activities as well as cash flow issues with some of the Contractors and COVID-19 lockdown. All the pending issues of land acquisition, forest clearances and utility shifting have been substantially resolved in close co-ordination with the State Government and the balance works are under implementation with regular monitoring. (f) In order to ensure timely completion of NH projects, the Government has undertaken various initiatives. These include streamlining and expediting land acquisition using “Bhoomirashi”portal and GIS-based Land Acquisition Plan, revamping “Parivesh” Portal to facilitate faster forest and environmental clearances, enabling online approval of General Arrangement Drawings (GAD) of Road Over Bridge/Road Under Bridge (ROB/RUB) from the Railways, and leveraging the mechanism of review and resolution of bottlenecks / hindrances in ongoing projects, in active collaboration with the State Governments and other stakeholders. Railways 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. Further, 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. *****