NHIDCL MD fumes over project delay
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 30 2022:
National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) managing director Chanchal Kumar on Saturday inspected the ongoing repair work of National Highway no-2 (Imphal-Manipur).
As part of his two-day visit to the state, the MD and his team inspected the ongoing 4-lane expansion work from Koirengei to Senapati along Imphal-Dimapur route and other works taken up under different packages at around 7.30 am on Saturday.
Chanchal Kumar also interacted with the contractors in charge regarding the inconveniences faced and the progress of the works assigned.
The contractors informed the MD that the work was unable to progress even after 1 year owing to the land owners refusing to give up their land during the land acquisition process.
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If the land is provided, the 4-land expansion work could speed up, the contractors conveyed to the MD.Kumar opined that it would be wrong of the contractors and officials to feign ignorance just because of the land disputes, considering the fact that no work progress was witnessed in the state land areas where there is no dispute.
He questioned why the works for which foundations had been laid in the non-disputed land are still not completed and causing inconvenience to the public.
The supervision over the works seems to be lacking as the project has not yet reached 1 percent even after 1 year.
He further directed the contractors and officials to speed up the work in the non-disputed areas.
Chanchal also met with the Senapati district commissioner and urged the district administration for cooperation with regard to land acquisition and compensation process.
Meanwhile, responding to questions from newspersons, Chanchal Kumar stated that the delay in the 4-lane expansion project of the national highway is due to the land disputes, resulting from disagreements with the land owners on the matter of compensations.
However, the compensations have been sanctioned after the district administration submitted an estimate of the same.
The compensation is to be given to the land owners but the process has been delayed due to the disputes, he added.
The MD further said that NHIDCL has stationed the required engineers and necessary machineries for the work, which could make progress immediately if the land is provided.
The Company has always been in charge of repairing the state highways and its objective is to complete the work at the earliest and hand over the finished road to the public.
Although some of the land disputes have been resolved and the work is on, it must be noted that good road connectivity can assist the tourism sector in increasing the economy of the state.
Thus, he appealed to the people to cooperate with the ongoing work along the highways.
The managing director was accompanied by NHIDCL HQ general manager KC Bhatt, NHIDCL Regional Office Imphal executive director DK Chowdhury and others during the inspection visit.