Facing a situation that may jeopardise the fate of many road development projects awarded two-three years ago, the Highway Ministry has decided to speed up its proposal to allow premium rescheduling.

The proposal will then be referred to an inter-Ministerial group headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

The Law Ministry has taken a stance against a proposal to permit deferment of premium payment for highway developers. The Highway Ministry had sought legal vetting of the proposal.

The Highway Ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have favoured implementation of the proposal. “We will ask a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to take a call on the issue,” said a source.

ROAD AHEAD

The future of some 26 road projects – where developers offered a premium of Rs 96,000 crore to the Government over the pre-defined concession period of 20-30 years – now hangs in balance.

Premium is the amount offered by a developer to the Government for bagging the right to invest in widening existing highways and collect toll from users over 20-30 years.

LESS REVENUE

The premium is payable annually and goes up by 5 per cent every year.

Many developers have expressed their inability to implement projects as the actual toll revenues end up being lower since the Indian economy entered a slowdown phase, leading to project cost escalation. They have approached NHAI and have sought staggered premium payment over the project life period.

The developers want to pay a lower amount in the initial years and higher amount in later years, while keeping the net present value constant.

FUND CRUNCH

Also, developers of about 30 projects awarded till early 2012 have not been able to tie up funds from banks and achieve financial closure.

Bank lending also got squeezed after developers directed banks to stop lending for road projects till 100 per cent land was available.

All these road projects were awarded on public-private partnership (PPP) basis, as the Government wanted to increase spending in sectors such as health and education.

However, as the economy slowed down, with the growth rate touching 5 per cent in 2012-13, investors stopped bidding for highway development.

In 2011-12, about 7,500 km of road development projects were awarded. In contrast, less than a 1,500 km of highways were awarded in 2012-13, with no response from bidders for several projects.

With work on phase-I of Chennai Outer Ring Road, from Vandalur to Nemilichery, nearing completion, the State government recently gave its nod for a consortium of Ashoka Buildcon and GVR Infra Projects to build phase-II, from Nemilichery to Minjur.

On completion, the 61.65-km-long road will form a semicircle around the city and help decongest Chennai’s roads. It will act as a major link and connect four national highways — NH 4, NH 5, NH 45 and NH 205.

According to sources in the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC), the managing associate for the project, the work order has been issued and the contract is to be signed with the consortium to execute the 32-km stretch.

The cost of the project, being executed under a design, finance, build, operate and transfer basis, would be Rs. 985.44 crore, of which Rs. 197 crore will be provided by the State government as project support fund.

Of the 20 years during which the company would operate the road, 2.5 years is for construction. The consortium will get six months to achieve financial closure after which it will commence work.

The various features of the road include a flyover at Red Hills–Tiruvallur Road, an interchange on the Kolkata Road at Padianallur and a bridge across the Kosasthalaiyar river near Minjur.

The end point at Minjur is on the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetty Road, which is 10 km away from Ennore Port to which the road will provide connectivity.

According to an official, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is carrying out land acquisition for the project and of the 278.25 hectares of private land, 90 per cent has been acquired. Government land too is required for the project. The road would pass through the Sidco Industrial Estate near Vellanur.

Meanwhile, lighting on 25 km of phase-I has been completed and residents of villages such as Mannivakkam, Varadharajapuram, Nazarathpet, Kolapancheri, Amudurmedu and Thandarai have begun using the road.

“The lights are kept on to avoid accidents at night. We are unable to prevent residents from using the road. Bus shelters have been installed on one side for the entire stretch,” said a TNRDC official. The work, except on the three interchanges, is expected to be completed by October end.

It may be recalled that farmers of Karunakaracheri, Ramapuram, Annambedu and Thandarai have been protesting against the proposal to take over 100 acres of agricultural land for setting up a truck terminal abutting ORR phase-I.

Source-http://www.thehindu.com

Electronic Toll Collection is a system enabling collection of toll payments electronically allowing for near-nonstop toll collection and traffic monitoring.ETC utilizes vehicles equipped with transponders(electronic tags),wireless communication, in-road/roadside sensors and a computerized system(hardware and software) for uniquely identifying each vehicle ,electronically collect toll, providing general vehicle/traffic monitoring and data collection.

Here is the text of Minister’s speech 

“ I am confident that the daylong discussions would have sparked off ideas that have the potential of revolutionizing Tolling and Corridor Management on Indian Highways.

“The mission of Government of India has been to make quality highway network across the country and make the system transparent and responsive.

“In our bid to do so / I am glad to share that by the end of this financial year we would complete construction of nearly 3000 kilometers of National highways, / which is a record till date.

“Along with constructing highways we are also re working our systems to sync with times. To make the system transparent / we first introduced e-tendering, / followed it with pilot project to Electronically collect Toll.

“Now we have a vision to mark national highway network on maps / making it compatible to mobile devices / and even have apps for highway network.

“I will elaborate a bit on our endeavor to implement RFID based Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system across National Highways.

“The RFID technology shall expedite the clearing of traffic at toll plazas / and the need of carrying cash shall also be eliminated when Toll plazas shall be duly integrated with each other throughout India.

“We started a Pilot Project on ETC last year in April at Parwanoo on NH-5. /

“The pilot is being carried successfully and concessionaires have been requested to work out necessary modalities with the ETC solution providers / and Banks for setting up of Central Clearing House (CCH).

“A few more stretches have also been selected for ETC implementation. They are Mumbai – Ahmedabad, Chennai- Bangalore and Gurgaon – Jaipur – Beawar.

“I would like to assert that by March 31, 2014 we aim to implement ETC across all the toll plazas on our National Highways.

“For implementation of nationwide electronic toll collection we have recently constituted / Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) / with equity partnership from NHAI (50%) Concessionaries (25%) and institutions (25%) .

“Government of India is also amending the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 for fitment of RFID tag on vehicles by the automobile manufacturers.

“I am happy that Feedback Brista Highways OMT Pvt. Limited (FBH) has organized this special session to discuss the issues that affect user comfort at the Toll Plazas and how we can develop an effective and efficient mechanism at Toll Plazas on National Highways.

“Our endeavor will be to develop policies and systems for happy user experience on Indian Highways / through better safety measures / and / lower waiting time at the Toll Plazas.

“We will be happy to partner with the Government of Portugal to develop a mechanism for better cooperation and collaboration in this regard.”

Source-http://inbministry.blogspot.in

Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi said there is a need to streamline the land acquisition process in order to fast-track road projects by NHAI and state agencies. The Minister said this while reviewing the status of land acquisition for National Highways Development Project and also other road construction programmes.

Source-http://constructionsphere.com