According to Road Ministry sources, the government reduced construction costs by 12% by selecting the Dwarka Expressway Project

According to top sources in the road transport ministry, the CAG findings that the cost was excessive are misplaced because the auditor did not factor in the actual cost. The government saved over 12% in construction costs compared to estimates when awarding contracts for Urban Extension Road-II or the Dwarka Expressway.

According to reports, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) determined that the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) choice of an elevated carriageway on the Haryana section of the Dwarka Expressway increased the construction cost from the initial estimate of Rs 18.2 crore per km to Rs 251 crore per km.

 

An argument between the opposition parties over allegations of corruption in the project’s awarding procedure resulted from the audit report on the execution of Phase-I of the “Bharatmala Pariyojana” highway projects.

 

The four Dwarka Expressway packages were all put up for bid at an average civil cost of Rs 206.39 crore per kilometer, according to ministry sources, but the contracts were ultimately granted at a lower rate of Rs 181.94 crore per kilometer.

 

According to them, the four expressway packages’ average civil construction cost was 12% less than expected.

 

The sources said that the CAG merely divided the project’s whole length of 5,000 kilometers under development by the project’s overall construction cost of Rs 91,000 crore under the National Corridor Efficiency Program.

 

They said that the CAG has acknowledged that the Rs 18.2 per kilometer construction cost did not take into account the costs for flyovers, ring roads, etc.

 

They contend that the in dispute highway has elevated lanes, underpasses, tunnels, and other features that were not intended to be included in the project.

 

The ministry finalized, as far as feasible, the Bharatmala Phase-I project’s cost of Rs 91,000 crore for 5,000 km on August 10, 2016.

 

The highway is the first eight-lane elevated road in the nation to be built on a single pier and have a four level interchange facility, according to the ministry.

 

It features a 3.6 km long, eight-lane tunnel and a 2.4 km long, six-lane tunnel that connects it to the Delhi airport.

 

Additionally, elevated service roads are located at key interchanges.

 

According to ministry insiders, they would make an effort to let the CAG know their thoughts on the matter and would offer their opinions anytime it was brought up for debate in the Public Accounts Committee.

 

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, said on Monday that the Narendra Modi administration had broken “all records of corruption” after the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India allegedly noted the “very high” construction cost of the Dwarka Expressway.

 

The claim was, however, refuted by the ministry of roads, transport, and highways in a statement, which referred to it as a “gross misrepresentation of facts.”

 

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, where he shared a picture of a media piece on the CAG findings, Kejriwal said that “the Modi government has broken all the records of corruption in the past 75 years.”

 

Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha member and national spokesman for the Aam Aadmi Party, referred to Prime Minister Modi’s administration as the “most corrupt” since independence while speaking during a news conference at the party’s headquarters in this city.

 

He had said, quoting the CAG report, “The Narendra Modi government constructed the road (Dwarka Expressway) at a cost of Rs 250 crore per kilometer when it was to be constructed at the rate of Rs 18 crore per kilometer.”

 

In response to the accusation, the ministry had said that the true situation regarding the cost per kilometer was that such project-specific costs were not accepted in the approval of the “Bharatmala Pariyojana”.

 

“It merely supplied the program’s total budget. As a result, attributing a cost rise from Rs 18.2 crore per kilometer to Rs 250 crore per kilometer is a blatant distortion of the facts, according to a statement from the ministry.

 

According to the statement, the “normative cost” for the formulation of the “Bharatmala Pariyojana” for approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was determined to be Rs 18.2 crore per kilometer.

 

“The civil cost/capital cost of the project being undertaken under the ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ varies based on its design features, terrain, and geographical locations,” the ministry had said.

 

According to the government, the average cost for special projects including sizable lengths of “bridges/via-ducts/tunnels” under the “Bharatmala Pariyojana” is Rs 152 crore per kilometer.

 

It had added, “It may be understood that construction cost varies based on the nature of the project.”

 

The Dwarka Expressway is currently under construction, and the AAP protested there on Wednesday.

 

Party officials and supporters gathered beside the Dwarka Expressway and dubbed the project a “scam,” including main national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar and Reena Gupta.

 

The road, for which a budget of Rs 18 crore per kilometer was approved, was constructed for Rs 251 crore, according to Kakkar, who spoke to PTI.