18. NHAI

Unlike power, ports and mining sectors, road building is supervised by an autonomous body like National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

1. independent governance and financing.  
2. NHAI gets around Rs 40 to 50 bn in the form of cess on oil charged on petrol and high-speed diesel.

Roadblocks 

1. the 80:20 problem in land acquisition is to blame for NHAI's failure. Though 80% of the land is given when the project is awarded, the remaining 20% leads to a major delay. The location of the land and environment clearances tends to become major roadblocks. Especially when they pass through green zones and villages. Little wonder that two most ambitious road projects (Golden Quadrilateral and North-South-East-West corridor) are close to completion but not there yet! 
2. Manpower problem has also shown up in road building. Every 100 km of road building requires some 70 engineers. Thanks to several projects like construction of metros, development programmes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and NREGA have taken away the major chunk of skilled and unskilled workforce.  
3. Not having a chairman for over one-and-a-half years has brought a fair share of woes to NHAI. 
4. Aggressive bids 
5. Possibility of default in payments some years later. 

But despite multiple problems, the NHAI is hoping to achieve its 20 kms- a-day target latest by 2015. In an economy like India, roadways will remain a key growth catalyst. Hence, policymakers would do well to ensure that the NHAI's problems are resolved at the earliest.