When it comes to building roads, India seems to have a slow track record. The UPA government’s flagship social sector scheme — Pradhan Gram Sadak Yojana (PGSY) — is running five years behind schedule and has managed to complete only 59 per cent of work. Delays at the state level and financing problems are the major bottlenecks that have pushed the completion target from 2007-08 to 2012-2013.

“A major reason for this delay is the lack of institutional capacity at the state level to execute and monitor these projects. Financing has also been a problem in the past few years,” a senior government official associated with the project told The Indian Express. States are not able to cope with the quality and safety standards set by the Centre. Above all, they lack skilled people and institutions to monitor the project at the ground level.

Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur, Mizoram, and Uttarakhand are lagging in progress and have dragged down the completion statistics of the project as a whole for the entire country. “In some other states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Centre is facing problems when it comes to enforcing quality,” the official said. Fed up with delays at the state level, the National Rural Roads Development Authority had also considered a temporary freeze the release of funds to certain state governments.

The government has so far cleared proposals worth Rs 55,669 crore for the project since its inception in 2001. Of this, 96.44 per cent of funds have been spent so far with only 62 per cent of the projects completed. Of the 92,000 habitations targeted by PMGSY, the government has managed to connect only two-third (63,000) by August 2009. For fiscal 2009-10, the government has sanctioned Rs 20,000 crore which includes borrowings from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Nabard. In Bihar only 13 per cent of the roads have been built under the rural works department and 20 per cent under nominated executing agencies. In Jammu & Kashmir, PMGSY has seen a progress of only 24 per cent, while Jharkhand rural roads network is only 33 per cent complete, according to official statistics for August-end 2009.