NEW DELHI: The Government on Thursday said land acquisition for development of highways was progressing slowly in some States and asked the Chief Ministers to expedite the process.

``Though work is progressing on schedule, there are States such as Tamil Nadu where 45 per cent of land acquisition has not yet been done. I have asked the Chief Ministers to come forward and ensure land acquisition,'' Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T. R. Baalu said here on Thursday.

He was talking to reporters after launching the Vehicle Tracking Pilot Project to be executed on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway jointly by the Software Technologies Parks of India, a government undertaking, and Core Projects and Technologies Ltd.

The Minister said the project would be useful to vehicle owners and drivers. The owners could track the vehicles every time and plan other vehicular movements accordingly.

It would be possible for the owner to know about a breakdown and facilitate prompt action to rectify the fault. The system would prove useful especially as the country was entering an era in which highways were being made 4/6-lane and expressways were being laid.

Mr. Baalu said the Government was formulating a comprehensive transport policy and would make it public after securing the approval of the authority concerned.

Prakash Salkar, CEO, Core, said such vehicle-tracking solutions were expected to become a Rs. 500-crore industry over next the two years.

Enthused by the success of public-private partnership model in the development of highways, he said the Government was planning to develop an additional 30,000 km under NHDP III at a cost of about Rs. 1,72,000 crores during the next seven years.

Under the same scheme, the Government was planning to rehabilitate 20,000 km of the existing two-lane sections under NHDP IV.

``The Government has already approved the programme for upgrading 4,000 km of national highways on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis under NHDP IIIA and has also approved preparation of detailed project reports for another 6,000 km under NHDP IIIB.''

The Minister said the Committee of Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister was considering six-laning 5,000 km of national highways and construction of 1,000 km of Expressways under NHDP V and NHDP VI. A length of 6,000 km was developed to four-lane standards in the earlier phases.

He said the PPP would be the major plank of the highways development programme. Private enterprises would invest money for developing these highways and get returns through fees collected from users.

Mr. Baalu expressed satisfaction with the progress of dredging for the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project.

``As of now 20,000 cubic metres is being dredged every day. We hope to complete the work in time,'' he said.

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