The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has terminated three key packages of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Greenfield Expressway project in Punjab and entered into settlement agreements with the contractor.
The packages are collectively valued at over Rs 3,000 crore.
Sources said the NHAI had already released over Rs 1,500 crore for the work executed on Packages 8, 10 and 11, besides paying around Rs 265 crore as final settlement compensation.
The terminated packages were being executed by a private firm under the Bharatmala Pariyojana. The Package-8 covered the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road to Ludhiana-Moga road stretch, Package-10 included the Jalandhar-Moga to Jalandhar-Kapurthala section along with Amritsar connectivity, while Package-11 covered the stretch up to Amritsar-Mehta road near Beas.
Official documents indicate that only partial work could be completed across these packages despite mobilisation of manpower and machinery. Sources said roughly 40-60 per cent work was executed on different stretches before projects were stalled due to multiple issues, leaving a substantial portion of the highway incomplete. However, tenders for the rest of the pending work of three packages had been floated by the NHAI.
The combined compensation across the three packages runs into nearly Rs 265 crore. Package-8 alone accounts for about Rs 89.38 crore, including claims towards unexecuted work, damages and idling costs, along with interest. Package-10 has a settlement amount of approximately Rs 73.27 crore, while Package-11 has the highest payout of around Rs 105.11 crore.
In all cases, the largest share of compensation relates to 10 per cent of unexecuted work value, along with payments allowed for damages and delays. Several other claims, including maintenance cost, detouring, design charges and machinery usage, were not accepted.
The projects faced persistent hurdles from the beginning. Land acquisition emerged as a major bottleneck, with farmer unions staging protests and demanding higher compensation.
Apart from land issues, the projects were hit by policy and environmental challenges. Restrictions imposed by the National Green Tribunal on mining activities in Punjab led to shortage of construction material, while frequent changes in the state's mining policy further slowed execution. Contractor also flagged financial stress due to non-reimbursement of pond ash transportation costs by state-run thermal power plants, which added to the burden of stalled works and idle machinery.
With construction activity virtually paralysed and disputes escalating, both NHAI and the contractor opted for conciliation through an independent committee of experts. The process eventually led to mutual agreements for foreclosure of the contracts. The settlements also include provision of 9 per cent simple interest on delayed payments, calculated from 30 days after the issuance of termination notices till the signing of agreements or February 27, 2026, whichever is earlier.
Project Director Expressway, NHAI, ML Purabia said, "We have terminated the projects officially recently along with settlement compensation. These projects have been terminated as there were problems in number of things, including land acquisition and fly ash problem from the state government. Now, we have again floated tenders for the rest of the work and soon these problems will also be resolved."