Guwahati, Jan 29 (PTI) Tough terrain, climate conditions and delay in land acquisition and forest clearances pose major challenges to the Border Roads Organisation to execute its projects in the vulnerable high-altitude stretches of the North-East region in the country, a senior BRO official said.
Rainfall in the region persists for almost seven to eight months in a year, restricting road construction work, BRO Additional Director General (East) P K H Singh told PTI in an interview.
“In other high altitude areas of the country, the problem is only of snow but in the North East, it is both snow and rainfall giving us a working window of barely four to five months due to which overall project completion gets delayed,” Singh said.
Besides, the delay in land acquisition and forest clearances along with lack of resources also create problems in project implementation, he said.
The BRO’s long-term perspective plan of Rs 30,000 crore for the 2023-28 period in the North East and Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprises 365 road projects with a total of 18,208 km in length.
“Land acquisition in a time-bound manner is a major challenge, and the delay in acquiring land is the primary factor for time and cost overrun in the region,” Singh said.
Delay in initial surveys after placing requisition, repeated assessments owing to the dissatisfaction of asset owners and encroachment by locals and assessment of compensation are also major issues faced by the BRO in the region, he said.
“Being tribal-dominated areas, there are several cases of interference by political, social, community and student groups in matters related to land acquisitions and labour issues, and these factors lead to a delay in projects”, Singh said.
Digitised land record data is not adequately available which also affects the finalisation of compensation, he said.
“There is a need to digitise the land record in the region which will be helpful to resolve such issues on priority. There is a need to curtail any delay as these projects are very important for the country”, Singh said.
Several court cases are pending as there is no designated fast-track court for dealing with land acquisition issues, which has also delayed in starting projects, he added.
Besides, non-availability of construction materials and competent contractors in the North East also pose a major challenge in the execution of projects, Singh said.
According to him, road construction requires a huge quantity of stone and the “progress of work is directly proportionate to availability of such a resource and also results in the socio-economic development of the area”.
“A lot of difficulty is being faced due to inadequate allotment of quarry. There is acute shortage of river sand/stone while at most places, the only source of river sand is river bed quarry which remains inaccessible during the entire rainy season”, Singh said.
Road building in the NE is also constrained by lack of experienced and financially sound contractors while private players from outside the region are reluctant to work in the region due to varied reasons and low returns, he claimed.
The local contractors lack the requisite expertise, resources and experience to effectively manage all road construction and maintenance projects, he said.
“There is a need to devise a mechanism wherein contractors from the mainland could be attracted to NE with incentive schemes like reduction in rates of performance guarantee, credit facilities at a lower rate of interest, performance incentives for timely construction of projects, among others”, Singh said.
Training facilities are almost non-existent for skill development for supervisors and labourers involved in road construction, he added.
Despite the challenges, efforts have been made to overcome these with meetings organised with governors, chief ministers and officials of the ministries concerned, which have been successful, the ADG(E) said.
The BRO has been in touch, at apex levels, with the chief secretaries of the states concerned, which has led to fast-tracking of several critical cases, Singh said.
Nodal officers have been appointed for fast-tracking land acquisition and forest clearance proposals while several borders are being combined to bring in prominent contractors who can finish work in the acceptable time frame, he said.
“We believe that in construction, speed is important but not haste with timely completion of projects in the interest of the nation”, Singh added. PTI DG BDC
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