New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS): BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya on Tuesday called the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) audit report on the ‘Implementation of Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana (BPP-1), which flagged the sky-high cost of Dwarka Expressway, as "misleading".

"Under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, project-wise cost was not approved. It only provided overall outlay for the program. As such, ascribing increase of cost from Rs 18.2 crore per km to Rs 250 crore per km is gross misrepresentation.The per km cost of Rs 18.2 crore was considered for formulation of Bharatmala Pariyojna with clear proviso that cost for flyovers, ring roads can be established after DPRs (detailed project reports), as there are no cost norms for these," he wrote on X (formerly twitter) while sharing a media report on CAG's revelation on Dwarka Expressway.

"The civil cost of the project being undertaken under the Bharatmala Pariyojna varies based on its design features, terrain and geographical locations. In short, construction cost varies based on the nature of the project.

"In the CAG report, civil cost has been mentioned as Rs 250 crore per km whereas approved civil cost for 4 packages is Rs 206.39 crore per km and awarded civil cost is Rs 181.94 crore per km," Malviya claimed.

The CAG audit report revealed that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Board approved the Dwarka Expressway with civil cost of Rs 7,287.29 crore with per km Rs 250.77 crore as against per km civil cost of Rs 18.20 crore approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The appraisal and approval mechanism prescribed by the CCEA for BPP-I was not being followed by implementing agencies, the report said.