Eleven road projects funded by multilateral institutions World Bank and Asian Development Bank have missed their completion target — with time overrun in one project of as many as 64 months. The total cost involved in these projects is roughly Rs 23,556 crore, according to government data. Nine of these 11 projects are supported by World Bank aid, according to the status report of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for August 2009.

Two of the delayed projects alone account for a total investment of over Rs 19,000 crore. These two projects —Gorhar-Barwadda in Jharkhand and the Allahabad bypass in Uttar Pradesh — involving a cumulative expenditure of Rs 10,184.89 crore and Rs 9,549.19 crore, respectively.

The project with maximum time over-run of 64 months is the Fatehpur-Khaga highway in Uttar Pradesh. Work commenced on it in March 2001, and it was originally due for completion in October 2004. The completion target date has been revised to December 2009. This Rs 211.73 crore project is also funded by the Wold Bank.

The ADB-funded Orai-Jhansi-5 highway worth Rs 1,704.59 crore has also been delayed. The project, launched in October 2005, is likely to see completion by June 2010, according to the revised dates. Another ADB-funded project in Karnataka (the Chitradurga bypass) has a time overrun of 21 months. Construction work on the stretch started in April 2007 with a target to complete it by September 2008. The NHAI has now set a completion date of May 2010 for the project. The total project cost is Rs 508 crore, of which Rs 103 crore worth work has been contracted out.

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