The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is in a fix as a government order (GO) waiving Goods and Services Tax (GST) and royalty for constructing the 44-km Kundannoor-Angamaly NH 544 Bypass (Kochi Bypass) is yet to be issued, despite the government granting in-principle clearance for the waiver in January, informed sources said.
The greenfield NH project holds the key to decongesting both the Aroor-Edappally bypass and the Edappally-Angamaly NH 544 corridor — two of the most congested NH stretches in the State. A GO on the waiver is crucial to issuing the 3(A) notification to kick-start the process to acquire 287 hectares for the semi-access controlled NH corridor.
“The uncertainty over the waiver is taking a heavy toll, considering that the detailed project report [DPR] consultant of the NH project has been idling for the past several months. This in turn has led to the National Highways Authority of India [NHAI] incurring undue ‘establishment expenses’, while fear is rife that the total project cost would exceed the estimated ₹6,000 crore owing to the rise in land value and prices of raw materials. The worst part is that the stalemate continues even after the Chief Minister directed the Finance and other departments in January to take steps to complete the widening of NH 66 in a time-bound manner,” sources said.
The NHAI had in January ‘put on hold’ the Kochi Bypass project owing to the continuing uncertainty over the GO regarding the waiver. The Centre had insisted on the waiver after exempting the State from pooling in with 25% of the cost of land acquisition. The development of Kollam-Sengottai NH too is hanging fire due to delay on the part of the State government in issuing the GO.
Little has changed despite reminder letters, the sources added and expressed fear that the NHAI might now ‘back off’ from the two projects if the stalemate continued.
Sources in the government said a GO was awaited once the waiver was finally cleared by the Finance department. “There is no justification for the delay since there is no upfront payment that the government has to make,” they said.
