A plan for projects to be awarded in the year 2010-11 is to be launched soon. If there is one thing that makes India’s growth story patchy, it is its infrastructure. Within the infrastructure deficit, the lack of roads remains the greatest challenge. Although India currently has 3.3 million kilometres of roads — the second largest such network in the world — the shortage of highways has been a major hurdle for attracting foreign investment. Join discussion...

Delay in land acquisition has been identified as one of the factors which slow the pace of highways construction in India. As per the Model Concession Agreement of the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects, NHAI is required to handover 80% of the land on the date of financial closure of these projects. That precisely means that NHAI will have to acquire the land in a time bound manner so that commencement of work is not delayed. Based on the experience in earlier phases, it was felt that the existing arrangement of acquiring land may not be adequate to meet the challenges of land acquisition works in the States. Join discussion...

F ortunes of men and nations are built on the back of good roads. The Silk Road and the Grand Trunk Road brought prosperity in ancient times. The Golden Quadrilateral that connects the four Indian metros is doing something similar today, giving rise to new constructions and businesses along the highways and better accessibility to farms, processing units and manufacturing hubs. Join discussion...

According to Kamal Nath, Road, Transport and Highways minister, there are two dominant issues that stand in the way of quickening highway construction — land acquisition being one and the need for capacity building at the National Highway Authority of India, which is the nodal authority for highway construction being the other. This article is going to deal with the land acquisition. Join discussion...

Traffic volume been growing about 12% a year with India's brisk economic growth, putting a huge strain on its still underdeveloped road network. But the country's road building program hasn't kept pace, leading to choked highways and potholed roads. Poor infrastructure takes at least two percentage points off growth in gross domestic product each year, economists say. Join discussion...

The land question is becoming a major obstacle in implementing the much-desired Public Private Partnership projects (PPP), especially in West Bengal. The Planning Commission has just completed appraisal of 15 odd projects which are listed under PPP. The government of India has included the much-needed North South Corridor, the widening of National Highway 34 from Barasat to Dalkhola, in this cluster. To attract private investment in this project this has been further divided into five separate projects from Barasat to Krishnanagar, Krishnanagar to Baharamapur, Baharampur to Farakka, Farakka to Raiganj and Raiganj to Dalkhola. Join discussion...