On the 18-km Northern Peripheral Road, there are 15 problem areas

The Haryana Urban Development (Huda) has finally woken up to the cost overruns caused due to mounting delays in big-ticket road projects – NPR and SPR expressways.

Besides, there has been pressure from Chandigarh to find a solution to outstanding issues as cost escalation is burning a hole in the government’s pockets.

In a meeting held last week, the Huda authorities identified “15 problem areas” on the NPR project, which could be resolved easily as in some of these disputes involve other state government departments.

These “problems” can be resolved at a different plane as they do not involve compensation issues.

“There are 15 bottleneck areas on the 18-km stretch of the NPR. I have asked all concerned officials to submit an action taken report at the earliest,” said Huda administrator Praveen Kumar.

“The issues are small but need to be dealt with seriously,” he added.

According to the administrator, the Huda estate office has to remove as many as four constructions coming up on the way of NPR at four locations, while the land acquisition department has to work to vacate stays in as many as four cases and acquire land at two locations.

The NPR connects Dwarka in Delhi to Kherki Daula in Gurgaon. The project is expected to be completed by October, 2012.

The department like Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) has to remove electric poles, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation (HSIIDC) too has to remove one structure at Udyog Vihar Phase-5.

The administrator has directed his officials to submit a detailed action taken report latest by May 15.

The NPR project was awarded to India Bulls, a private developer.

The deadline for the project is March 31, 2012 which is unlikely to be met, given the current pace of work.

Only 12.5km of the road is free of litigation.

The uncertainty over the NPR project is also hitting the real estate sector very hard.

However, many private developers have already launched their projects along the under-construction expressway.