NEW DELHI: : Around 580 National Highway (NH) projects with total cost of nearly Rs 3.9 lakh crore are delayed and another 200 projects worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore are yet to take off months after they were bid out.
Delay in land acquisition, issues relating to contractors and pending statutory clearances have been identified as main reasons that have held up these projects, sources said.
However, the road transport and highways ministry has been able to reduce the number of projects, which are delayed by more than three years, by almost 50% in the past one-and-a-half years - from 152 in April 2024 to 81 in July 2025 - through greater focus on regular monitoring to resolve all pending issues. Officials said even the number of all delayed projects has been reduced by around 16% in first four months of the current financial year due to stricter and regular monitoring.
"The target is to reduce the number of delayed projects significantly as these cause cost escalation and deprive people of the desired benefit," said an official.
TOI has learnt that there is a monthly meeting of all highway building agencies to expedite project execution. Among the major factors impacting the projects, land acquisition is the leading one (28% of cases), followed by issues relating to contractors (19%) and forest clearances (13%). Officials said there is special thrust on completing projects where small works are pending to reduce overall number of delayed projects significantly.
Data show while total number of delayed NH projects stood at 690 in April 2024, it went down to 686 in April 2025 and to around 580 by July-end. Over 50% of projects are delayed by up to six months, while more than one-third are delayed by 1-3 years.
Officials said the factors delaying project execution also impact new works being bid out. For example, the highway agencies are yet to bid out 276 sanctioned projects worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore. As per the new norm, bids cannot be opened for a project unless the highway building agency has at least 80% of the required land in its possession.