New Delhi: Nineteen stalled highway projects, some stuck for almost a decade and involving investment held up of around Rs.40,000 crore, could be resolved following an ongoing stakeholders meeting, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
"In case we need to do some out-of-the box thinking on some difficult cases, I have suggested setting up a committee under the finance minister and with the secretaries of finance and road transport to decide on these," he said.
"There are only 19 projects where no solution could be found out. Secretary, bankers and contractors sat today (Thursday)...under no circumstances should any project be pending before January 31," he added.
Mr Gadkari said that if issues remained unresolved, an "out of the box solution" would be found by the finance ministry in consultation with the Prime Minister's Office.
The minister said that as many as 384 projects had been stuck for the last 10 years due to issues like land acquisition, forest and environment clearances, railway over-bridge problems, litigations, delayed decisions and financial problems.
"The government has terminated 41 projects and solved problems related to all these projects barring 19," Mr Gadkari said.
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