New Delhi, May 21 (IANS): The central government on Thursday extended the completion date of the national automotive testing and research and development (R&D) infrastructure project (NATRiP) by three years.

The project had faced several hurdles on the account of land acquisition at various sites, delays in clearances, shifting of utilities, contractual complications and foreign exchange variation.

Currently, the project is at various stages of completion. It had envisaged setting-up of facilities at seven locations -- Ahmednagar, Silchar, Rae Bareli, Pune, Manesar, Chennai and Indore.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meet which was held here. As per the CCEA decision, the project completion period has been extended from December 31, 2014 to December 31, 2017.

According to the CCEA, the extension will ensure that the state-of-the-art automotive testing, homologation and R&D facilities are erected as par the best quality standards.

The project had envisaged setting-up of a fully-fledged testing and homologation centre within the northern hub of automotive industry at Manesar, Haryana.

Under the NATRiP a testing and homologation centre was to come up in the southern hub of automotive industry at a location near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Existing testing and homologation facilities at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune and at Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar were to be upgraded.

Testing tracks on around 4,000 acres of land, including summer and winter pads were to be constructed at a yet undisclosed locations.

The technical assistance for the setting-up of the testing tracks was to be obtained from global consultant based on a global tendering process.

Another feature of the project included the national centre for testing of tractors and off-road vehicles together with national facility for accident data analysis and specialized driving training in northern part of the country at Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.

The national specialised hill area driving training centre and in-use vehicle management centre under the project was to be completed at Dholchora in Silchar, Assam.