UPA-2 road plans hit a bump

October 26, 2009

NEW DELHI: This could be an indicator of how the ambitious highway development programme has been a non-starter in UPA-2. National Highways

Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded only 17 projects for 1,574 km since January against the plan of awarding 135 projects (14,384 km) in the current financial.

A presentation made by the highway regulator at a CII conference on consulting services on Tuesday pointed to the huge gap between the projection and actual pace of award of projects in the past 10 months. As per the presentation, only 17 projects costing Rs 17,757 crore were awarded including one project on BOT (annuity). It further showed that nine more projects on BOT (toll) and two on annuity modes were under the process of award. However, information was not available on how many highway projects were awarded since the change of guard in the ministry.

NHAI officials blamed the slow pace on certain “controversial clauses” and provisions in the request for quotation (RFQ) and request for proposal (RFP) and the model concession agreement. “We had prepared a plan to award 60 projects last year but the economic downturn hit us hard and only 12-13 projects could be awarded. Many projects could not achieve financial closure even after awarding. This time it’s equally worse due to certain contractual provisions and clauses of the bid documents including the conflict of interest clause,” said a senior official.

Road, transport and highways minister Kamal Nath has already identified the interpretation of ‘conflict of interest’ as the biggest roadblock in the fast tracking of highway projects.

Transport secretary Brahm Dutt admitted on Tuesday that the award of projects was taking time while the ministry had set a target of achieving construction of 20 km highway per day.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Highway, NHAI, Tolling

Hazaribagh road clears Cabinet bump

August 6, 2009

Ranchi, July 31: The Union Cabinet has finally cleared the project to widen the Ranchi-Hazaribagh stretch of NH-33, considered the lifeline of the state, making it the first project in the region — including Bihar — to be executed under build, operate and transfer (BOT).

The Cabinet sanctioned Rs 688 crore yesterday for four-laning 71km of the highway which means that a consortium of IL&FS Transportation Networks Limited (ITNL) and Punj Lloyd would now be awarded a contract by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

According to the terms of the BOT-annuity plan, the project will have to be completed in two and-a-half-years. The consortium would be paid Rs 64.08 crore every six months for the next 15-and-a- half years.

In all, the government would be paying the consortium approximately Rs 1,900 crore, the funds for which would be sanctioned in future. The consortium will, however, be responsible for maintaining the road for 18 years from the date of awarding of the contract.

“Now NHAI will issue a letter of intent following which a contract agreement will be signed with the consortium. This will be the first project in Jharkhand and Bihar to be executed under BOT-annuity basis,” Lt Col Chandan Vatsa, the NHAI general manager (BOT), told The Telegraph from Delhi, sounding relieved that the project had crossed its final hurdle.

Four-laning of the Ranchi-Hazaribagh stretch was in phase III of National Highway Development Programme’s (NHDP) which was cleared by the Centre in 2005. But it was held up as the past three attempts to invite bids did not yield results.

Vatsa, however, warned that the state, now under president’s rule, had a lot more to do so that land acquisition, forest clearances and other permissions were speeded up.

“Only about 48 per cent land required for widening the road is under NHAI’s possession. As per the Model Concession Agreement approved by government of India, at least 80 per cent possession of land is mandatory before a contract cab be awarded. So now the state administration must pull up its socks,” the NHAI official said.

NHAI has also provided for a 4.2km bypass in the Kujju area of the highway to avoid the fire zone that has already made commuting in the stretch dangerous. The by-pass, that would run on a new alignment, has been included in the proposed four-laning project.

The total length of the Ranchi-Hazaribagh stretch of NH33, including the bypass, would work out to be 71.16km.

“The new proposed alignment will avoid the existing fire zone in and around Kujju. It could well be the safest zone. But once the project starts we will need to conduct soil, bore hole and other geological tests to assess the exact magnitude of the underground fire,” Vatsa added.

M.K. Pandey, the manager (technical) of NHAI, said they have apprised Delhi about the situation at Kujju. “After conducting the geological tests, the authorities may even decide to alter the alignment of the Kujju bypass once work starts, ” he said.

Source:www.telegraphindia.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Expressway, Highway, HTMS

Toll on two-lane roads to drive costs down

June 30, 2009

More than 10,000 kms of roads may get tolled across the country. In what may be called a first, the ministry of road transport and highways is considering a proposal to toll two-lane roads. This is being done to not only recover the cost of construction but also ensure funds for their maintenance and upkeep. According to a senior government official, the move has come as a part of the government’s attempt to attract more road developers and also reduce the burden on annuity and build operate transfer (BOT) projects.

So far two-lane roads are not tolled across the country. But the idea is being considered especially because the government may award the construction of two-lane national highways on certain lean traffic areas across the country. This is being done to reduce the cost at a time when developers have been shortage of funds, as the official said.

The move will require making changes to the toll policy of the government, which provides for tolling of four and six lane highways currently. The ministry had introduced a new toll policy in December 2008 by the way of which toll rates had been doubled or trebled on certain stretches.

The current toll policy stipulates a fee of Rs 0.65 per kilometre for cars jeeps etc, Rs 1.05 per km for light commercial vehicles, Rs 2.20 for buses and trucks, Rs 3.45 for heavy construction machinery and Rs 4.20 for vehicles with over seven axles. However, these are the recommended rates for four and six lane highways and a similar schema would have to be prepared for two lane highways, if the proposal gets implemented.

The fee for two-lane highways is expected to be much lower but the location will also matter in determining it. For instance, it may be higher for hilly terrain roads.

The government has been working on a plan to re-engineer roads and thereby reduce their cost. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is considering the removal of a number of additional structures on highways that escalate the cost. Taking this further, the minister for roads recently suggested that even in areas where two lane roads are being considered tolling should be implemented.

However, there is a flip side two lanes as well. They are less safe than four or six lane highways as there is no divider to prevent head on collisions. Even though we support the idea, the viability of tolling two lane highways would have to be considered in the light of the administrative cost of collection, a road expert from the National Highways Builders Federation (NHBF) said.

Currently there is a network of over 70,000 kms of national highways in the country, the maintenance of which comes under the central government. Even though national highways are only 2 per cent of the total road network, they carry bulk of the country’s traffic at over 65 per cent.

Source:indianexpress.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Toll Management System, Toll Plaza, Tolling

NHAI fails to meet projects, expenditure targets

January 27, 2009

New Delhi: The NHAI (National Highways Authorities of India) is lagging behind in reaching most of its targets. While, it will not be able to spend a third of its targeted expenditure of Rs 31,000 crore in the current financial year, it is also running behind schedule in awarding new projects.

The authorities had planned to award 61 projects by December 2008 under the

BOT (build-operate-transfer) model with an estimated cost of Rs 67,000 crore to widen 6,343 km highways. Out of those, only three projects have recently been awarded and three are likely to be given soon.

“In this fiscal, NHAI has spent about Rs 16,000 crore and by March 2009, it is likely to spend another Rs 5,000 crore,” said Brahm Dutt, secretary, department of Road Transport and Highways.

These expenses are primarily public spending in the first three phases of the National Highway Development Programme. They exclude the expenditure on highways development by private developers (concessionaires) undertaken in the BOT model.

Citing economic downturn as the main reason for poor response to the 60 projects on offer, Dutt said, “market turmoil changed the scenario overnight resulting in NHAI getting response in only 16 of the 60 projects floated.”

Source: epaper.timesofindia.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, NHAI, Projects

LANCO bags two toll road projects in Karnataka

August 4, 2008

LANCO Kondapalli Power Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of LANCO Infratech Ltd, has bagged the contract for construction and operation of two road projects in Karnataka on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase III.

The company has formed two Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) – LANCO Hoskote Highways Pvt Ltd and LANCO Devihalli Highways Pvt Ltd for undertaking the projects. The concession agreements for the projects have been signed with the National Highways Authority Ltd. The two road projects are the 81 km Bangalore-Hoskote-Mudbagal stretch on National Highway 4 and 82 km Neelamangla – Devihalli stretch on National Highway 48. The project involves six laning of 16 km stretch and four laning of the remaining stretches. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,006 crore. The concession periods are 20 and 25 years for the two projects respectively, including 30 months of construction period. The contracts have been awarded through a competitive bidding process.

LANCO Group is one of the fastest growing corporate entities in India. LANCO has more than two decades of experience operating in the core sectors of Power Generation, Power Trading, Realty, Engineering and Construction, Information Technology and Manufacturing. At present, the power portfolio includes an operating capacity of 518 MW and additional capacities under construction aggregating to more than 3,200 MW. The Construction and EPC division of the company is executing various orders worth more than Rs 7,500 crore. LANCO is also developing LANCO Hills, one of the largest integrated township properties in Hyderabad, which will have a developed area of more than 30 million square feet and one of the tallest residential towers in the world. The development of the property is estimated to cost Rs 5,500 crore.

Source: moneycontrol.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance, NHDP, Projects

Bid to widen highway begins

August 4, 2008

Ranchi, Aug. 1: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set the ball rolling for the four-laning of Hazaribagh-Ranchi stretch of NH-33, considered to be the lifeline of Jharkhand.

NHAI, which functions under the Union ministry of road transport and highways, has invited a global expression of interest (called request for qualification in technical parlance) from construction majors. The last date to respond is August 29.

“It would be a 75km stretch of NH-33 costing around Rs 600 crore. The tenders would be on build, operate, transfer (BOT) annuity basis,” said H.C. Arora, the chief general manager of NHAI, who looks after projects in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi.

This would be the third time that NHAI has invited tenders for the same stretch.

Earlier, two efforts to finalise the project through BOT-toll basis proved futile with no parties responding to pre-qualification bids apparently due to Naxalism and law and order problems in the state. Under BOT-toll, the contractors awarded works are supposed to invest the entire project cost and realise the same by collecting toll taxes for the next 30 years or so.

Under the annuity basis, although the construction company would invest the entire project cost, a fixed annual sum as annuity from the government would ensure that the former gets back its invested money.

In a related development, the ministry is contemplating to turn the 150-km stretch of NH-33 between Ranchi and Jamshedpur into a single package. Earlier, the stretch was divided into two packages — one between Ranchi and Rargaon and the other between Rargaon and Mohulia.

Arora added that the NHAI would soon invite expressions of interest for the Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch, too.

The ministry was in favour of inviting the tenders on BOT-toll basis. The overall cost of the project would be around Rs 1,300-1,400 crore.

The proposed Hazaribagh-Ranchi four-lane road would end near Vikas Vidyalaya by taking a bypass of about 20km before meeting Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway near Rampur.

The state and central authorities are discussing whether the proposed Ring Road project for Ranchi can be merged with the highways’ proposed bypass on a cost-sharing basis. Arora added that the four-laning project of both the stretches would be part of National Highway Development Programme-Phase III.

Source: telegraphindia.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Highway, Investment and Finance, NHAI

ATTSII Recommends Guidelines For A Suitable Electronic Toll Collection Standardisation For India

July 31, 2008

PROPOSES WORLD WIDE TESTED AND RECOGNIZED CEN 278, BASED ON DSRC MICROWAVE TECHNLOGY

New Delhi, 23rd July, 2008: The Association of Toll and Traffic Systems Integrators of India (ATTSII) has recommended guidelines for a suitable Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) to the working group formed by the Committee of Road Safety and Traffic Management, Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways to determine the technology for Advance Traffic Management Systems, Advance Travel or Information Systems and Electronic Toll collection Systems. The association proposes CEN 278 standard based on DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication) microwave technology for the Indian subcontinent keeping in mind the Indian environment and driving conditions.

Representing the association, Mr. Sachin Bhatia, President ATTSII and Country Director of KAPSCH METRO JV said, “CEN 278 is the most acceptable technology worldwide with interoperability standards. It is already successfully implemented at the Delhi – Gurgaon Expressway, the largest 32 lane toll plaza in India. Introduction of smart tags based on microwave technology has received overwhelming response from drivers who earlier had to wait in long queues for several hours at the Toll. Now, it only takes few seconds for each vehicle to pass through, significantly reducing waiting time. CEN 278 is a cost effective technology as multiple vendors are present in the market to ensure that customers get the best competitive deal.

“At a time when India is starting to put in place the ETC technology, it should adopt the most advanced technology that is pre tested, allows wider applications and faster data transfer speed. We cannot afford to lose time in deciding on a technology as there is an urgent need to meet the ever increasing traffic management requirements in India that suits the masses and is most viable to implement,” said Mr. Aman Kishore ,VP of the ATTSII and Managing Director of International Road Dynamics (IRD) South Asia.

“IRD have successfully implemented CEN 278 standard microwave based Electronic Toll Collection(ETC) technology in April 2006 at Hoogly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) site at Vidyasagar Setu – Kolkata. HRBC is a West Bengal Government organization for operation, implementation and maintenance of Hoogly Bridge. Currently, it has 24 lanes at 1 Plaza with 4 ETC Lanes and is efficiently meeting requirements of the department to cater to heavy traffic volumes in a matter of seconds at the entry to Kolkata city,” added Mr. Kishore.

He further explained, “Most of the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) operators are opting for technology for ETC which is more cost effective and operationally efficient for Indian conditions. Recently, we have bagged an order for implementation of CEN 278 standard microwave based ETC from one of biggest BOT and O&M operators in the country – Ideal Road Builders (IRB), Mumbai for one of its locations at Mumbai’s Entry Points. The decision of opting for Microwave based ETC technology by such a reputed company must have been taken after much due diligence.”

“The major advantage of the microwave technology is the presence of numerous vendors in the market that generates fair competition. We must understand the emerging traffic volume in our country and we must opt and guide for technology which best meets diverse user needs and national interest, rather than being guided by commercial interest of vendors.

“CEN 278 standard is based on microwave technology, making it more reliable, robust and viable. A very recent example is the stormy morning of 14th May; any other known standards based on other technologies like infrared would have created chaos at points where it would have been applied. This is because in dusty weather, data fails to be securely transmitted, resulting in distortion in reporting and further leading to revenue leakages at tolling booths. As ATTSII represents the road operators in India, we sincerely hope to provide the best infrastructure and cost effective method of ETC for the end benefits for our people, we strongly recommend CEN 278 to be included as a policy due to its advantages outweighing that of any other present technology, pre -tested and widely accepted”, further explained Mr. Bhatia.

“It is a proven technology being used for electronic toll collection for many years around the world. This proves also our more than 140 reference projects in 30 countries in the Asian/Pacific region, Europe, Australia, Latin America and in South Africa. This technology guarantees thanks the reliability of the tolling system and the low error rate the maximum toll income and it is the perfect choice for charging on motorways, expressways and even secondary main roads. With respect to interoperability the DSRC is the only working technology today providing the necessary standards and specifications. We have also already made very good experiences with using of the DSRC tolling systems for the improving of the road safety and for the optimizing of the traffic flow by the installation of traffic data sensors or variable message signs on the toll gantries,” said Erwin Toplak, Management Board, Kapsch TrafficCom AG.

About ATTSII

The Association of Toll and Traffic Systems Integrators of India (ATTSII) has been established in India for the Toll and traffic Industry players to share their views; ideas and technologies through a common platform. The Association comprises of the leading players of the Industry as below:

IRD, Canada / India
Kapsch TrafficCom AG; Austria/ India
GEA; France / India
CS ROUTE ; France/ India
Metro Road Systems ; India
Q-Free / Comvision , India

About Kapsch TrafficCom AG

Kapsch TrafficCom AG is an international supplier of innovative road traffic telematics solutions. Its principle business is the development and supply of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, in particular for the multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) of the traffic, and the technical and commercial operation of such systems. Kapsch TrafficCom also supplies traffic management systems, with a focus on road safety and traffic control, and electronic access systems and parking management. With more than 140 reference projects in 30 countries in Europe, Australia, Latin America, in the Asian/Pacific region and in South Africa, and with almost 12 million on-board units (OBUs) and nearly 11,000 equipped lanes, Kapsch TrafficCom has positioned itself among the leading suppliers of ETC systems worldwide. Kapsch TrafficCom is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and has subsidiaries and representative offices in 20 countries.

For further media queries contact:

Alka Ohja / Archana Sharda
Blue Lotus PR
[email protected] / [email protected]
011-46571241 / 42
9958443490 / 9811838332

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under ATTSII, BOT, CEN 278, Default, ETC, Investment and Finance, ISO, Toll Management System, Toll Plaza, Tolling

HCC joint venture bags Rs639-crore Andhra irrigation project contract new

July 31, 2008

Mumbai: Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) jointly with SEW Infrastructures Ltd and Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) has bagged a Rs639-crore contract for building a barrage of around 3.5 km on river Pranahita near Tummidi Hetti village in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh.

HCC will have a share of Rs326.03 crore in the work being undertaken for the Pranahitha-Chevella Package-3 being undertaken by the Irrigation & Command Area Development (ICAD) department of the government of Andhra Pradesh.

The contract covers detailed investigation, preparation of designs, drawings and construction of a barrage including fixing of gates, head regulator and 500 meter long gravity canals. The project will be completed in 48 months.

The project is a part of the government’s ‘Jalayagnam’ programme, an initiative to provide immediate irrigation benefits to all underdeveloped regions of Andhra Pradesh.

Pranahitha-Chevella lift irrigation scheme will irrigate an ayacut of 12.20 lakh acres and provide drinking water to about 1,000 villages in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Nalgonda and Rangareddy districts in Telangana region.

HCC is currently involved in construction of Godavari lift irrigation phase I and Phase II in Andhra Pradesh where Phase I has already been commissioned and phase II is in advanced stages of completion. In addition, HCC is currently executing four major projects in Andhra Pradesh, including the country’s first cavern for strategic storage of crude oil at Visakhapatnam, the Veligonda lift irrigation project, the Rajiv Sagar lift irrigation project and a 30 km highway of NHAI on NH-7 under north-south corridor on BOT basis.

HCC constructed the first bridge over the river Godavari at Shahgar, in Andhra Pradesh way back in the 1930s. Since then it has built several infrastructure projects, including the Godavari Barrage at Rajahmundry, the Papavinasam Dam, the Vizag Monolith & West Wall Protection and the Railway Bridge over Godavari which is the first and only bow-string bridge in India, the company said in a release.

HCC has so far constructed over 45 dams, barrages and 15 powerhouses in the sub continent, contributing to over 30 per cent of the country’s installed hydropower capacity.

Source: domain-b.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, HCC, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance, Mumbai

STATUS OF WORK ON SELECTED HIGHWAY STRETCHES IN PUNJAB

April 23, 2008

The status of Chandigarh-Kiratpur, Amritsar-Pathankot and Jalandhar –Amritsar stretches are as under:

(i) Chandigarh-Kiratpur stretch: The Chandigarh-Kurali section is of 28.6 km length. Out of this, the stretch from km 0.0 to km 11.4 is four/six laned. Four laning from km 11.4 to 15.4 has been sanctioned for Rs.13.51 crore on 31.03.2008 by Ministry. Four laning of the remaining section from km 15.4 to 28.6 is to be taken up under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase – III. The 4 – laning of Kurali-Kiratpur section has been awarded in June 2007 on BOT basis and the work is likely to be completed by June 2010.

(ii) Jalandhar-Amritsar stretch : The Detailed Project Report (DPR) to take up the work of four- laning on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) toll basis for Jalandhar-Dhilwan section has been updated by the consultant. The bidding process shall be started after Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) clearance. The four – laning of Dhilwan to Verka Chowk, Amritsar section has been started in May 2006 and the work is targeted to be completed by November 2008.

(iii) Amritsar-Pathankot Stretch : The Detailed Project Report (DPR) preparation for four laning of this stretch is in advance stage of completion. The bidding process shall be started after Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) clearance.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri K.H. Muniyappa in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Source: pib.nic.in

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Expressway, NHAI, NHDP

Way paved for Ghaziabad expressway

April 17, 2008

GHAZIABAD/GREATER Noida: The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has finally decided to complete work on a number of roads, including the 12-kilometre expressway linking Greater Noida to NH-24 in Ghaziabad.

While 10.5 kilometres of the 12-kilometre expressway having been completed five years ago, a 1.5-kilometre stretch on NH-24 had been encroached upon. Now, GDA vice-chairman SK Dwivedi said compensation and alternative plots of land will provided to residents along the route to clear the area in order to complete the expressway.

Meanwhile, the GDA has decided to go ahead with plans to build a six-lane expressway linking the Hindon bridge at Meerut Road and the Greater Noida-Ghaziabad expressway. The GDA and NHAI have already decided to widen NH 24 from UP Gate to Lal Kuan.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Delhi, Expressway, Highway, NHAI, NHDP

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