NEW DELHI: Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday assured the Lok Sabha that the 4-lane Mumbai-Goa national highway will be completed by December, noting that the Sindhudurg-Goa patch is almost ready.
He was replying to a question by Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar on the project not completed last December as per target due to the delay by some contractors. Kirtikar even named the Supreme Infra-Structure contractor responsible for the delay.
Gadkari said that the contractor has been already sacked but the contractors need not be blamed as there were many reasons for delay like land acquisition, court stays, environment clearances, etc. He said he has given a push to the remaining construction of the highway by roping in a new contractor and getting funds cleared by the State Bank of India.
He jokingly said that the project was started when the UPA was in power both at the Centre and in Maharashtra and he had to hold 25 meetings to resolve all issues.
