The Central government saved nearly 12 percent in the construction cost of Dwarka Expressway, claimed a senior official of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, days after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) flagged a nearly 14-fold increase in the budget of the project, according to reports.

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Top sources within the Road Transport Ministry have confirmed that the findings by the CAG regarding exorbitant costs are misconstructed and that the actual expenditure was significantly lower than estimates, news agency PTI reported.

Initially, the CAG's findings had emphasised the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) decision of an elevated roadway on the Dwarka Expressway's Haryana section. The report said that this choice led to an escalation in the construction cost, soaring to Rs 251 crore per kilometre from the estimated cost of Rs 18.2 crore per km.

PTI sources from the ministry revealed that these figures lack proper context. They clarified saying that all four contracts for the Dwarka Expressway were put out for tender at an average civil cost of Rs 206.39 crore per kilometre. Ultimately, the contracts were awarded at a substantially reduced rate of Rs 181.94 crore per km, which reflects a 12% reduction from the estimates.

A senior official of the ministry said that the project was awarded after a “transparent” bidding process, according to a Hindu report.

The ministry sources further highlighted the fact that the CAG's calculation method oversimplifies the complexity of the project. They said that the CAG divided the total construction cost of Rs 91,000 crore under the National Corridor Efficiency Programme by the entire length of 5,000 km under development. The ministry, on the other hand, claims that this methodological disparity does not account for elements such as flyovers, elevated roads, underpasses, tunnels and ring roads as these additional components contribute significantly to the overall construction cost and were not originally included in the project.

Notably, the expressway’s design includes an eight-lane 3.6 km tunnel, a six-lane 2.4 km tunnel connecting to Delhi's airport and elevated service roads at crucial interchanges. According to the ministry officials, these aspects justify the cost variations.

According to the PTI report, the ministry intends to communicate its perspective to the CAG and present its views when the issue is brought up for discussion before the Public Accounts Committee.

Meanwhile, on Monday, August 14, the Opposition parties accused the Modi government of record-breaking corruption in light of the CAG's findings.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)