Land acquisition reform and schedule performance of highway projects: evidence from India's RFCTLARR Act

Purpose Land acquisition is widely recognised as one of the most delay-prone activities in infrastructure project delivery. This study empirically evaluates whether transparent and fair land acquisition reforms improve schedule performance of publicly procured infrastructure projects, focusing on India's Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on a dataset of 481 completed highway projects implemented between 2000 and 2019, covering both pre- and post-reform periods. Mean comparison analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) models were employed to examine the association between the reform and the three indicators of schedule performance: estimated unit time, actual unit time and time overruns, while controlling for project-specific, governance and state-level factors. Findings The results consistently show that projects implemented after the RFCTLARR Act had lower estimated and actual unit times and significantly lower time overruns. These findings suggest that enhanced procedural fairness, through improved compensation mechanisms, mandatory social impact assessments and structured rehabilitation and resettlement measures, is associated with reduced uncertainty, disputes and execution risk, thereby improving project schedule performance. Originality/value This study advances institutional theory by demonstrating that procedural fairness in land acquisition serves as a governance mechanism that improves schedule performance of infrastructure projects. It provides empirical evidence from a large dataset that institutional reform in land acquisition is associated with measurable reductions in planned duration, actual execution time and time overruns for highway projects in India.