The Planning Commission on Monday has lowered the target for the construction of roads under the NHDP scheme to 2,500 km for the current fiscal from 3,165 km in the previous year, which was not met by the road ministry.
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry could construct barely 2,009 kilo metre of roads under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in the previous fiscal against a target of 3,165 km.
The Planning Commis-sion Deputy Chairman, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said the panel has fixed the target for award of projects for construction of roads during 2010-11 at 9,000 km, down from 9,806 km in the previous fiscal.
Last year, the Road Ministry awarded projects for construction of only 2,609 km of roads under the NHDP and Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the North-Eastern Region (SARDP-NE).
The ministry has spent only Rs 11,608 crore on construction of roads last year, against the budget of Rs 30,000 crore. The panel made it clear that it will monitor the progress of projects on a quarterly basis.
Fixing quarterly and yearly monitorable targets for construction of 2,500 km of roads under NHDP phases I, II, III A and V this fiscal, the commission observed the achievements under NHDP phase I and III A were less than half of the desired target
The ministry could construct only about 96 km of roads under phase I, which comprises the Golden Quadrilateral and other projects, against the target of 201 km in 2009-10.
— PTI