E-Paper
Mumbai-Goa National Highway to be completed by September
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said the project got deferred due to delays in land acquisition and other pre-construction activities
The Mumbai-Goa National Highway (NH) – 66 will be completed by September 2025, the Union government told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said the project got deferred due to delays in land acquisition and other pre-construction activities as well as cash flow issues with some of the contractors. However, he said, all pending issues have been substantially resolved in close co-ordination with the state government and the balance works are under implementation.
He detailed that the construction of flyovers at Lanja and Pali got delayed due to land acquisition issues while the work of Chiplun Flyover was delayed due to collapse of one span.
“The land acquisition issues for flyovers at Lanja and Pali have been resolved while the design of the Chiplun flyover was reviewed after the above incident. The construction of all the three flyovers is under implementation with completion in phased manner by September 2025”, he said.
Similarly, he said the Shastripul-Bahwandi-Sangameshwar-Nivli road, part of the Aravali to Talekante section of NH-66, was delayed due to delays in land acquisition and other pre-construction activities, as well as the contractor’s cash flow issues.
He said that work in 30.68km out of the total 39.24km is over and the remaining will be completed in a phased manner by September 2025.
Gadkari was replying to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former CM Narayan Tatu Rane on the slow progress of work on the route.
Replying to another question from Congress MP from Uttar Pradesh Tanuj Punia, Gadkari said 683 ongoing projects started since April 1, 2014, have spilled beyond their original completion schedule, without attaining any of the various stages of project completion across states.
He said the primary reasons for delay in NH projects are issues relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances, permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law & order, financial crunch of contractors, poor performance of contractors and Force Majeure events like the Covid-19 pandemic, heavy rainfall, floods, cyclone, landslides and avalanches.
