NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has spent a whopping Rs 1.33 lakh crore on land acquisition in the past four years, which is nearly 43% of the total loan it has raised so far for its projects. Another Rs 35,000 crore is likely to be spent during the current year on land acquisition, according to official data.
The pace of land acquisition has increased in the past 5-6 years as the government has accelerated construction of national highways. The expenditure for acquiring land has also increased almost three times since 2014 due to the amended Land Acquisition Act of 2013. According to NHAI, the average land acquisition cost was approximately Rs 1 crore per hectare before the Act was notified and currently this has increased by 300%.
