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Journalism of Courage
Soon after the Planning Commission proposed a separate 8216;Expressway Authority of India8217; to provide a dedicated body to handle all future expressway projects, the plan has been put on hold.
The Ministry of Shipping, Road transport and Highways has raised questions about the rationale for creating yet another agency like the National Highways Authority of India NHAI, when the latter itself is faced with a staff shortage.
The ministry made its reservations on the issue very clear in the Cabinet meeting held ten days back. Soon after, the proposal for a separate expressway authority, as delineated in the 11th plan draft document, was deleted, said officials.
8220;Another expressway authority would only result in duplicity of organisations. The NHAI is already mandated to create 1,000 km of expressways. The 450-km expressway between Vadodara and Mumbai is also under way under National Highway Development Programme NHDP Phase VI. The NHAI will be able to handle more expressway construction as well if needed. There is hardly any need for another authority,8221; added the official.
The actual construction on the 15,000 km of expressways is likely to begin around the 12th Plan period. However, planning, detailed project reports, identification of stretches to be covered and preliminary works will take off during the 11th Plan period.
India8217;s expressway development is still nothing much to speak of. While neighbouring China already boasts of 50,000 km plus expressways and plans to build another 50,000 km more, India, at present, only has two expressways 8212; 92 km between Mumbai and Pune and 93 km between Vadodara and Ahmedabad. The Vadodara section will be extended up to Mumbai spanning across some 400 km. For the 1,000 km expressways mooted for NHDP VI, the NHAI is looking at feasibility of expressways between high traffic density sections like Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Meerut, Chennai-Bangalore and Kolkata-Dhanbad, besides the Vadodara-Mumbai section.
