Nitin Gadkari asks officials to complete 300 projects by March 2019

“The year 2018 has been declared as a ‘construction year’ by the ministry. Out of over 700 projects being reviewed, about 300 projects will be identified for completion before March 2019,” the ministry said in its statement.

Out of approximately 300 projects selected by the ministry, 100 projects are to be completed by December this year.

Gadkari reviewed projects from 20 states out of 29 but lauded performance of southern states.

“Performance of states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala was good… Even Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have shown great work… However, work in Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal was slow,” he said.

The minister said that land acquisition, utility shifting and forest clearance continue to mar the progress in the sector.

“I am saddened to see situation due to land clearance… Work is being delayed… Even forest and environment clearance is an issue to be tackled,” he said.

Meeting with bank chiefs

Due to lack of lending enthusiasm among bankers, the Union Minister has decided to hold a meeting with all bank chiefs in Mumbai later this month.

“I would apprise the banks about the steps taken by our ministry to avoid NPAs, how loans in this sector were returned on time and why this sector is important,” he said.

Gadkari said that NPAs worth Rs 3.85 trillion were avoided by the ministry after reviewing project conditions, changing the terms and putting the work back on track.

He also said that to further improve the sector, a performance audit of all contractors would be done to contain menace and delay in project completion.

“Performance of all contractors will be audited. If found guilty, the contractor would not be allowed to take up future projects,” he said.