The 555-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project from which the developer GMR Infrastructure pulled out in early January citing huge delays in clearances, has now got all requisite approvals from the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). According to sources, with Gujarat, one of the two states through which the highway passes, also giving forest clearance, the MoEF has given the green signal for the project.

The Rajasthan portion of the six-laning project was cleared earlier and in a meeting today, the Gujarat portion was also approved, paving the way for the project to be cleared from the angles of both environment and forest regulations, a ministry official said.

The troubled roads sector can expect a relief package from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which has called a meeting of the road transport ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday.

Government sources say that the meeting is likely to discuss the bottlenecks that have led to a slowdown in road projects and may work out an interim relief to projects that were awarded on premium to make them viable.

The troubled roads sector can expect a relief package from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which has called a meeting of the road transport ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday.

Government sources say that the meeting is likely to discuss the bottlenecks that have led to a slowdown in road projects and may work out an interim relief to projects that were awarded on premium to make them viable.

Infra ministers, govt bodies join the chorus as murmurs about corruption resurface

When Jairam Ramesh was replaced as environment minister some 18 months ago, loud sighs of relief from industry greeted the news. Ramesh, in the short period at the helm of the ministry, had acquired a reputation for inflexibility, and many started blaming him for stalled projects and declining investments, some even holding his ‘activist’ zeal responsible for the ensuing economic slowdown.

“They suffer from inherent financial weaknesses”

Taking a tough stand, the Union government on Thursday said GMR Infra and GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited, which had served notices on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stating that they were withdrawing from two major highway projects owing to delays in environment clearances, suffered from inherent financial weaknesses.

Long-term lenders like IIFCL and IDBI Bank are unlikely to fund road projects where land acquisition is incomplete, a move that could scuttle plans to award projects of 8,000 km this fiscal year. Lenders and builders have approached the finance ministry, road ministry and NHAI, insisting that road contracts should not be awarded without all clearances in place.

“We are not taking up new projects unless 100% land acquisition is done. We are taking up the issue with NHAI,” IIFCL chairman SK Goel told FE. “We feel other lenders will follow suit,” he added.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) may black list GMR Infrastructure from bidding for highways projects on the grounds that the company allegedly terminated a contract unilaterally wit

Stung by the “abrupt and unilateral” walkout of the GMR Group from the 555-km-long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway project alleging delays in approvals, the ministry of road transport

The decision by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to move the Supreme Court seeking exemption for delinking environment and forest approvals for road projects had the approval of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), it has emerged.

Government sources in the know say that the PMO’s approval came in a meeting held on October 31, 2012. The meeting was chaired by Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji and attended by representatives from NHAI, and the ministries of road transport, environment and law.

20 Highway Contracts Stuck Due To Red Tape Over Environmental Norms

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India has decided to approach the Supreme Court against the environment ministry’s norms as a series of projects are held up due to green clearances. While infrastructure major GMR has already announced its exit from Rs 7,500 crore highway project, there are at least 20 highways contracts — each worth over Rs 1,000 crore — that have been awarded by NHAI but there fate remains unclear as the environment ministry is sitting over forest clearances. The projects have cleared one hurdle of getting environmental approvals but work cannot start until a green signal on the forest side is also received.