Industry
MoRTH to appoint land acquisition consultant to speed up road construction
Summary
- Hiring a non-technical consultant would be significant given that highway construction has not kept up with annual targets for the past three years.
The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), in a first, plans to appoint a non-technical consultant to help resolve issues related to acquiring land for building highways and speed up the construction of roads.
The ministry is looking for a retired government employee of the designation of sub-divisional magistrate or above with good knowledge and experience in land revenue and acquisition matters, it said in a circular.
The aim is to fast-track the process of awarding and constructing highways by better handling land acquisition issues that otherwise often result in delays.
With land acquisition getting complex, lack of communication between the acquirer and the land owner delays key infrastructure projects. According to the ministry, land availability in many cases had become a major bottleneck on account of slow procedures and delays in issuing notifications.
As part of the plan to fast-track highway construction in the country, the consultant will advise the ministry on matters related to policy, land acquisition, public grievances and court cases.
The consultant will monitor projects and coordinate land acquisition matters, handle the Bhoomi Rashi and other portals and carry out other work as directed by the ministry. Bhoomi Rashi is a platform for online processing of land acquisition notifications to accelerate highway projects in India.
The appointment of a non-technical consultant is significant given that highway construction has not kept up with annual targets for the past three years. In the current fiscal, construction fell sharply.
Missed targets
According to MoRTH data, construction of highways slipped 12% to 1,288 km in the first two months of the current fiscal year as against 1,465 km created in April and May of 2023. Projects awarded during the two-month period slipped drastically to 4 km from 382 km a year earlier.
“One reason for this fall is also land acquisition-related hurdles that result in cost overruns and delays," an official from one of the Big Four global audit and consultancy firms said on condition of anonymity.
The Centre is said to be looking at a highway construction target of 12,000-13,000 km for FY25, compared with the 13,814 km target and the 12,349 km of construction achieved last fiscal.
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According to the MoRTH circular, the consultant will be engaged for two years initially. The term may be extended based on the requirements of the ministry and the performance and health of the consultant. The consultant will be based in the ministry’s office in New Delhi. The age limit for the consultant will be 63 years.
As per current rules, MoRTH looks at acquiring 90% of the land before awarding a highway stretch in a best-case scenario. This prevents delays because the concessionaire gets encumbrance-free projects to execute. Minor acquisitions can be carried out during various stages of construction without impacting progress on projects.
