Dwarka Expressway: Slugfest Over CAG Report Continues

Senior Highway Ministry officials cited details of the cabinet proposal for the Bharatmala programme, amid the ongoing political slugfest over the high cost of Dwarka Expressway project flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.

The Ministry maintained that the “cost of flyovers, ring roads can be established after detailed project reports (DPRs),” with the cost estimate approved in 2017.

The Congress has questioned the central government over the the inflated project cost of the Dwarka Expressway, which went up 14 times from the sanctioned Rs 18 crore/km to Rs 250 crore/km, as per the CAG report.

The details of the cost estimate for the highway development programme under the 'National Corridors Efficiency Improvement' also mentioned that there are no cost norms for flyovers, ring roads etc.

The 29-km Dwarka Expressway project was taken up under this component of Bharatmala programme considering the high congestion on Delhi-Manesar stretch of NH-48.

Officials said that while the average construction cost per km for roads under this segment was estimated at Rs 18 crore per km, it was meant for four-lane highways.

“Dwarka Expressway project has been designed and constructed to meet the current and future requirement and hence there are provisions for flyovers, underpasses, service roads and tunnels. How can any stretch with such structures and more lanes be built at Rs 18 crore. So, the estimates clearly mentioned that the exact costs would be known when we have DPRs,” said an official.

Sources claimed that, in fact, because of fierce bidding by private highway builders, the National Highways Development Authority (NHAI) bid out the project at a lesser price (-12 per cent) than what was approved.

While the average approved cost for civil construction was Rs 206 crore per km, they got lowest bids for an average of Rs 182 crore. This excludes the cost for land acquisition and shifting of utilities, the officials added.

"This a state-of-the-art project. While it’s a 14-lane highway with six lanes of expressway at the centre, the total lane distance on this stretch is around 563 km,” officials maintain.

They added that even a four-lane elevated stretch in any part of the country costs not less than Rs 130 crore per km.

Officials explained that the cost of highway projects under the Bharatmala programme has risen significantly from initial estimates due to the construction of wider highways, tunnels, elevated stretches, and high land acquisition costs.

“Only land acquisition cost alone has gone up by five times from original estimates of Rs 30,000 crore,” sources said, while adding that these points will soon be explained to the CAG.

As per the CAG report, the NHAI Board approved the expressway project with a civil cost of Rs 7,287.3 crore and that the Haryana government had handed over 90 m right-of-way to NHAI free of cost.

The report listed that to build a 14-lane highway at grade, 70-75 m of right-of-way was enough.

“However, for no reasons on record, the project highway in the Haryana region, where its length was 19 km, was planned with eight-lane elevated main carriage way and six-lane at grade road, when NHAI already had 90 m right-of-way and the same was sufficient for building 14-lane at grade national highway,” the report added.

The CAG report also pointed out that the construction cost increased due to such massive structures.