The Union Ministry of Surface Road Transport and Highways has declared two roads of Assam, linking neighbouring states Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, as National Highways.

The highways starting from Tinsukia on NH15, connecting Naharkatia and Hukanjuri of Assam and terminating at Khonsa on NH215 in Arunachal Pradesh has been declared as NH315(A) and the other highway starts from Srirampur on NH27, connecting Phulbari, Tura, Rongram, Ronjeng and terminating at Nongston on NH106 in Meghalaya has been declared as NH127(B), an official release said here on Thursday.

Bihar has set out to match Mumbai with its own version of the Marine Drive. The 21.5km Ganga Path, coming up in Patna by June 2015, will be one of the country’s biggest public-private-partnership projects at an estimated cost of Rs 2,234.46 crore. The Bihar State Road Development Corporation will in November finalise one of six leading construction companies that it has shortlisted. The government has signed a deal with Transparency International to ensure transparency in the bidding process.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. By the Government's own estimate, the economy is expected to grow by a mere 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, a sharp decline from 8.4 per cent in 2010-11. Inflation remains uncomfortably high at over 7 per cent. Investor sentiment has been suffocated in the last one year by policy paralysis and corruption.

New Delhi: At least 87 NH projects are running behind schedule, and in some cases the delay is more than seven years. Unhappy with the tardy progress of highway construction, the highways ministry has started a state-wise review of progress — starting with Uttar Pradesh — to expedite the unfinished task that has led to huge time overrun and cost escalation.

The government is likely to reject ‘radical’ recommendation of a parliamentary panel that proposed tighter norms for acquiring land for private businesses. In a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the Standing Committee on rural development has recommended key changes to the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, proposing to bar the government from acquiring land for industrial use.

PANJIM: Chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s ambitious plan of cleaning Goa’s roads of plastic litter and debris from May 20, is likely to be deferred as government agencies are still working out the modalities of what appears to be a mammoth task.

The State Public Works Department Principal Chief Engineer J S Rego said that the PWD has begun the process for identifying dumping grounds for debris and would be working closely with municipal bodies and village panchayats regarding waste collection in their respective areas.

TARDY PROGRESS Inquiry committee of road ministry finds World Bank Institutional Integrity Unit report on Lucknow-Muzaffarpur highway project true
Aprobe panel of the road ministry has recommended a CBI investigation into allegations of fraud against private contractors involved in the Lucknow-Muzaffarpur highway project.

Kendrapada: The World Bank authorities have expressed displeasure over the inordinate delay in handover of the roadside land required for widening of the 106-KM long Cuttack-Chandballi State Highway in state, official sources said. The funding agency has refused to start road widening work for the Rs 800 crore worth State Highway project as the state government agencies have failed to make the transfer of the 30 per cent of roadside land to the executing agency, sources said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has pulled up the National Highways Authority for its laggard pace in completing projects. It has called NHAI’s 20 kilometer per day target for highway construction as a ‘distant dream’. “NHAI is not in a position to complete any project whether it is NHDP or non-NHDP within the scheduled period, although financing has not been an issue for them. NHAI is adding projects after projects without achieving the targets,” the House panel said.