NHAI to award Rs 1 lakh cr. worth highway projects in FY'17

The Dollar Business Bureau

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to award Rs.1 lakh crore worth of projects for the construction of about 6,500 km of highways in this fiscal.

“We should be able to award projects for about 6,500 km and costing overall package size for about Rs.1 lakh crore (in current fiscal),” NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra told journalists on Wednesday.

The focus of the government is to accelerate road construction and has taken a number of initiatives to enhance the pace at which the highways are constructed in the country.

As part of the steps taken, the Ministry of Road & Transport last month directed all its departments to act speedily to resolve the disputes impacting the industry, including a call for developers for transferring cases to the new Arbitration Act.

On the question of arbitration payment norms, Raghav Chandra said that NHAI has sufficient funds for it.

In August, the Union Cabinet has permitted contractors to transfer their cases to the new faster arbitration process, permitted issuance of 75 percent of the disputed amount against the bank guarantee and provided for a conciliation board consisting of independent domain experts in fresh contracts.

The Chairman further said that NHAI is yet to receive formal details from contractors who have been awarded arbitrational settlement in their favour.

In a reply to another question, he said, “For next fiscal, we are making sure we have Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) ready.”

On the question of number of projects NHAI will issue through hybrid annuity model in the current fiscal, Chandra said that we have already issued around 18 or 19 projects and intend to award more.

In addition, the NHAI has drafted a pilot project to remove everyday traffic snarls on Delhi-Gurgaon National Highway by using advanced digital technologies that include Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), CCTV cameras, etc.