At least 719 projects of the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) have been delayed to some extent, government documents accessed by News18 show. The highways section, meanwhile, has extended some of the relief measures to the contractors and developers in the road sector.
As per the ministry documents, 719 of its projects across various states saw construction works on national highways getting delayed to some extent. This was “due to protracted monsoon in many states, above average rainfall in some states, COVID 19 pandemic, increase in price of raw materials (mainly steel), issues/bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances/permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law and order, non-availability of soil/aggregate, financial crunch of concessionaire, poor performance of contractor/concessionaire,” the ministry said.
The delayed projects included nine from Kerala and 31 from Rajasthan. The ministry has said that it is closely monitoring the construction progress and proactively working with project-implementing agencies, state governments, and contractors/developers to complete the delayed projects and avoid exorbitant cost overruns.
“Periodic review meetings are being held at various levels, to resolve issues/bottlenecks and complete the delayed projects,” it said.
Earlier this month, MoRTH extended some of the relief measures to contractors and developers in the road sector and in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The extended relaxations included monthly payment to the contractor for the work done and accepted as per the specification of the contract during the month EPC/HAM contract, reduction of performance security from existing 5-10 per cent to three per cent of the value of the contract for all existing contracts, and release of retention money.
“Retention money is a part of the performance security till construction period. Hence, release of retention money may be continued in proportion to the work already executed and no reduction of retention money may be made from the bills raised by the Contractor till 31.03.2023,” said the order.
It further said that for projects under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) or Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) mode, “performance guarantee may-be released on pro-rata basis, as provided in the contract, if the concessionaire is not in breach of the contract.”
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