Rs36,000 crore road projects to be awarded in Jan-Feb

The Union road transport and highways ministry is looking at awarding at least 25 projects worth around Rs36,000 crore in the first two months of the new year.

“About 13 proposals worth Rs22,000 crore, which will connect 2,050 kilometres (km), have been sent to the Public-Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) for getting its approval. Another 14 projects will be sent for approval in the next month,” a transport ministry official said.

PPPAC is a body under the finance ministry, which appraises PPP projects across infrastructure sectors.

Out of the 13, six projects, worth around Rs12,000 crore, are in Madhya Pradesh. The others will come up in Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Highway tendering activity had set a promising pace in the first six months of 2010. However, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) lost the pace post-June, owing to the Central Bureau of Investigation unearthing a scam, allegedly involving senior NHAI officials.

Most of the 51 contracts worth Rs50,000 crore awarded this calendar year were finalised in the first half.

The road ministry, meanwhile, has failed miserably on the implementation front. Against a target of completion of 2,500 km in 2010-11, it has logged just 988 km till date.

Meanwhile, to prevent the projects getting delayed owing to procedural hurdles, the ministry has formed a cost committee to examine a project before sending it to the PPPAC.

Projects whose costs do not comply with the cost structure recognised by the B K Chaturvedi committee set up last year will be examined by the newly-formed ministry body. This will fastrack appraisal by the PPPAC.

The BK Chaturvedi panel set up by the Prime Minister in August last year had recommended a cost of Rs9.5 crore per km for four-laning and Rs10 crore per km for six-laning.