First phase of GQ finally 'completed'

To ensure that subsequent phases of NHDP are not similarly delayed, a Parliamentary committee has suggested steps like appointment of state-level coordinators for land acquisition.

Having missed two earlier deadlines for its completion, the government has finally managed to "complete" the first phase of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) upgrading roads linking the four main metropolitan cities.

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Ninety-seven per cent of work in the first phase, which involved upgradation of 6,359 km of National Highways connecting the four metros, was finished last year, when the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways decided to call it "complete". The project, popularly known as Golden Quadrilateral, was initially supposed to have been completed by June 2004, after it was given in-principle approval by the government in December 2000.

However, on the expiry of first deadline, it was only 29 per cent complete. Subsequently, its deadline was further extended to December 2005, but the work was not complete even by then.

To ensure that subsequent phases of NHDP are not similarly delayed, a Parliamentary committee has suggested steps like appointment of state-level coordinators for land acquisition, one of the main problems confronting the project.

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings suggested simplification of procedure for issuing notifications for acquisition.

It also recommended that National Highways Authority of India should prepare monthly progress reports for each project, indicating clearly the target date of completion, delay if any and reasons behind it including the status of land acquisition.