In a move that may benefit 25 road projects, the Supreme Court clarified that road developers can begin work on a project once it gets environment clearance, irrespective of whether forest clearance is granted or not. The court clarified this while hearing a case involving Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and road regulator National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). In the
Tag: forest
Post
Post
Ministry dilutes stance on clearance for road projects
In a clarification to the Supreme Court, the union ministry of environment and forests informed that road developers need not secure clearance to begin work on that part of a highway project falling in non-forest areas. But one of the conditions imposed by the ministry is that if a highway was to pass through a patch of forest, the
Post
Minister expects East-West Corridor to be ready by end 2014
Union Transport Minister CP Joshi informed media persons that work on 431 km of the 670-km East-West Corridor in Assam is over and the entire project would be completed by December 2014.He said the project is in progress against many odds like law and order problem, unfavourable weather conditions
Post
Ministry waives nod of gram sabha for linear infra projects
In order to address delay in projects, Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan allowed linear infrastructure projects, such as roads, transmission lines and gas pipelines to skip approval from gram sabhas. Under the Forest Rights Act, these projects required the approval of gram sabhas. The decision was taken con
Post
Paradip ore terminal project faces inordinate delay
The proposed iron ore terminal project at Paradip Port Trust (PPT) is facing inordinate delay because of lack of environment and forest clearances, and court cases over relocation of iron ore plots. Blue Water Iron Ore Terminal, a special purpose vehicle floated by the Hong Kong-based Noble Group, in partnership with Gammon Infrastructure Projects and MMT
Post
Tata Steel hopes to get temporary work permit soon
Tata Steel hopes to get the temporary working permit soon to resume mining at the chromite mine in Sukinda, Odisha. The company had to halt mining at the mine as its lease validity, which was valid for 20 years, expired on January 11. The mine has the capacity to produce 2.4 millio
Post
Board gives one year for Posco’s Rs 530 bn SEZ project
Media reports suggest that the Board of Approval (BoA) for Special Economic Zone (SEZs) decided to give South Korean steel giant Posco one more year to start work on its proposed multi-product SEZ in Odisha. The company's proposed Rs 53,000 crore multi-product SEZ project in Odisha failed to take off as it is unable to acquire the required land in
Post
Envionment ministry sits on 307 road projects
According to union road ministry, till October 2012 a total of 307 road projects are pending for environmental and forest clearances. This also includes cases with the Border Roads Organization (BRO), sources from the Union Road Transport Ministry (RTM) said. It is learnt that these projects are mainly for widening existing carriageways in order to augment capa
Post
NHAI open to out of court settlement with green min
Reports suggest that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is open for an out-of-court settlement on the issue of de-linking environment clearances from forest if the environment ministry agrees. In a petition filed at the Supreme Court, NHAI called for delinking of environment approval from forest clearance to hasten highway development
Post
NHBF seeks prior approval for highway projects
In a letter to NHAI, the National Highways Builders Federation (NHBF) recommended that highway projects should not be called for bids before securing requisite clearances, for land acquisition, environment, forest and wildlife. NHBF is a lobby body for highway developers and the letter is also addressed to the Highway Ministry and Finance Ministry on