If the proposed Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2007 gets along, then NHAI will have a 5 year clause on all the lands that it acquires. In the Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2007, to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, a provision is made for return of land to the owners from whom it was acquired, if NHAI doesn’t make use of the acquired land within a period of five years. Speaking at the release of the India Infrastructure Report 2009, Union road transport minister Kamal Nath said that the bill will go to the Parliamentary standing committee in the same form and would be introduced in Parliament in this session.

The bill aims at streamlining the land acquisition procedure, which is a major hurdle in all infrastructure projects. As of now 60 projects being implemented by Indian Railways, 40 by NHAI and 28 power projects are facing difficulties in acquiring land. TCm leader and railway minister Mamata Banerjee, at the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday evening, has raised serious objections to a part of the bill which allows private developers to acquire 70 per cent of the land for a proposed industrial project directly from the landowners.