Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

24-November-2011 17:25 IST

The non-plan allocations that are annually provided by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for Maintenance & Repair (M&R) of National Highways (NHs) are of the order of about 40% of the actual requirements as per the Ministry’s stipulated norms based on the Report of the Committee on Norms for Maintenance of Roads in India, published in 2001. Accordingly, it has not been possible to allocate sufficient funds to the States under M&R as per the norms of the Ministry. However, the M&R of NHs are carried out annually as per availability of funds, extent of damages, inter-se priority, spill-over liabilities of works sanctioned during previous financial year, etc. to keep the NHs in traffic worthy conditions. Inadequate allocation of funds for M&R of NHs has resulted into thin spreading of resources on large stretches of NHs.

The year-wise details of estimated requirement of funds for M&R of NHs and the actual allocation provided to this Ministry are as follows:-

(Amount in Rs Crore)

^* - Additional allocation of  Rs. 1,000.10 crore was provided at R.E. stage during 2010-11.

The Ministry has taken up the issue of enhancing the allocations of funds for M&R of NHs from time to time with the Ministry of Finance. Ministry of Finance has agreed to provide additional allocation of  Rs. 300 crore at RE stage of 2011-12. It has also taken a policy initiative to take up operation and maintenance of the developed stretches of NHs on Operate-Maintain-Transfer (OMT) basis through private sector participation, thereby leveraging the available resources.          

This information was given by the Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Shri Jitin Prasada in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

SK

Maintenance funding shortfall for national highways undermines repair norms; government seeks extra allocations and OMT private participation. Non plan allocations meet roughly forty percent of the Ministry's normative annual maintenance and repair (M&R) requirements for National Highways, forcing M&R works to be prioritised by available funds, extent of damage, inter se priority and spill over liabilities. Year wise estimated requirements versus allocations for 2004-05 through 2011-12 demonstrate the persistent gap and occasional additional allocations at revised estimates. The Ministry has sought increased funding from the Ministry of Finance and is pursuing private sector engagement by proposing Operate Maintain Transfer (OMT) arrangements to leverage resources for highway maintenance.