Project overlap a turf issue

Under the Centre’s ambitious Bharatmala project, a ~7-trillion initiative to build roads and highways, several projects have already been completed and many are under the bidding process.

For the shipping ministry, tasked with last-mile port connectivity projects under the Sagarmala initiative, it could mean the credit of its labour going to the road transport and highways ministry, as 49 of the 94 port-related projects (identified under Sagarmala) have been brought under the Bharatmala Scheme.

Hence, these projects would now come under the ambit of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

According to an official, the two ministries may work out a solution in order to deal with overlap of projects and administrative jurisdiction.

Experts, however, suggested merger of the projects within these two sectors for better synergy as both ministries are headed by only one minister – Nitin Gadkari.

“The operation and maintenance of projects can be done under Bharatmala by the road ministry and the NHAI, which will address the issue of overlap between the two schemes,” former shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi said. In October last year, the Cabinet cleared the Bharatmala project to construct 20,000 km of highways, connecting western and eastern parts of the country. In the first phase, to be undertaken over three-five years, the project would cost ~5.5 trillion.

The scheme would be funded through various sources, including ~2.19 trillion from the central road fund or toll collection, ~2.09 trillion from the market, and ~1.06 trillion through private investment.

In March 2015, the Cabinet approved the Sagarmala project, which envisaged port-led development at 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) — as well as 1,208 islands.