The Akhilesh Yadav government is agonising over signing state support agreements (SSAs) for highway projects in Uttar Pradesh, driving as many as seven ongoing projects to a funding crisis and pushing another 16 to the back burner. The state feels that a certain clause in the SSAs — that no competing roads be allowed to come up near NHAI highways —takes away its right to plan and execute its own projects. In the absence of SSAs, banks have refused to finance the projects further, commissioned between 2009 and 2011 and currently in various stages of execution.SSAs bind the state government to providing land, environment and mining-related clearances, help in providing utility services and enforcing law and order, besides agreeing to the no-competing roads clause.

In the absence of SSAs, the NHAI is also going slow on as many as 16 new projects in UP. A senior NHAI official said the agency was trying to persuade UP to sign the agreement in its talks with state government officials.

“The matter is being tracked at the highest level. Next week, we are meeting UP chief secretary Jawed Usmani and hope for a positive outcome,” the official said.

NHAI has also informed the government that without the SSA in place, 16 new projects in the state currently in the detailed project report and bidding stages, will not be launched.

“The state has expressed its reservation on the clause barring any competing roads in the vicinity. We are trying to resolve the issue,” the NHA official said.

“The delay on part of the state has led to delays in the completion of the projects and cost overruns. Our concessionaires are being unduly hit. We need to ensure their interests are not harmed,” the official added.

The seven projects include the Moradabad-Bareilly road (IL&FS, 121 km, Rs 1,267 crore,) Etawah-Chakeri section of NH-2 (Oriental Structural Engineers, 160 km, Rs 1,698.50 crore) Bareilly-Sitapur road (Era Infra, 151 km, Rs 1,951.50 crore), Muzafarnagar-Haridwar stretch (Era Sibmost Infra, 80 km, Rs 1,007 crore), Delhi-Agra road (Reliance Infrastructure, 180 km, Rs 2,960 crore), Lucknow-Rae Bareli (Essel Group, 70 km, Rs 800 crore) and Bareli-Allahabad Road (119 km, Rs 290 crore).

An official with the state PWD department which oversees road projects said signing the SSA means giving up the right to plan and build roads. “The NHAI is pushing an umbrella SSA agreement for all of its projects in the state, which, we think, is an infringement on the rights of the state government. We are trying to work out a way where we can sign project-based agreements, as was done earlier, instead on a blanket agreement,” said an official of the PWD department.

Earlier, the state used to give project-specific approvals, but in the last three years, no NHAI project has been approved. The Mayawati government had, in fact, refused to approve even specific projects. While the Akhilesh Yadav government is reviewing the decision, it is yet to come on board regarding the SSA.

Source-http://www.financialexpress.com