New Delhi: The government today approved widening of highways in Maharashtra and Punjab which entails an investment of over Rs.3,000 crore.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved four laning of the Aurangabad-Yedeshi highway in Maharashtra at an investment of Rs. 2,406.63 crore. In Punjab, the Sangrur-Haryana border road will be widened at Rs. 612.28 crore investment.
“CCEA approved four laning of the Aurangabad-Yedeshi section of National Highway-211 in Maharashtra under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase IV on Build, Operate and Transfer basis,” an official statement said.
The estimated cost, of the 190 km, project is Rs. 2,406.63 crore including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities, the statement said.
The proposed highway between Sangrur (Punjab) and Haryana border is estimated at Rs. 612.28 crore including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities.
The total length of the road will be approximately 57 km. The project is covered in Sangrur and Patiala Districts of Punjab. The main townships on the project Highway are Sangrur,Patran and Khanauri.
These two projects will also increase employment potential for local labourers.
(It said the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 1,756.36 crore including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities.) (Representative image)
NEW DELHI: The government today approved a road project in Gujarat, entailing Rs 1,756 crore expenditure, under its flagship Gujarat under its flagship road building programme NHDP.”The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for four/two laning of the Gadu-Dwarka section of National Highway-8E in Gujarat under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase IV on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT-Annuity) in Design, Build,Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) pattern,” an official statement said.It said the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 1,756.36 crore including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities.The total length of the road will be about 209.89 km, out of which 119.7 km will be four laned and 90.19 km will be two laned with paved shoulders, it added.
The project will expedite improvement of infrastructure in Gujarat and also reduce the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Gadu and Dwarka.
This road stretch links a number of sea ports on the western coast of India, apart from coastal places like Dwarka, Porbandar and Somnath.
The statement said the development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region and increase employment potential of local labourers for project activities.
NEW DELHI: Almost all major road developers including GMR, GVK, IRB & L&T are keeping their eyes on the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday when the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will take up the contentious issue of premium rescheduling of about 40 projects awarded since 2010-11.
Out of these total projects work has started in the case of 17 stretches. Though all these months the road transport and highways ministry had been taking up the issue of only 23 projects where work is yet to start, the Cabinet Secretariat has received a supplementary note from the ministry. IRB had been raising the demand of extending the rescheduling scheme to all premium projects awarded post April 2010.
Premium is annual upfront payment that developers give to NHAI during the entire contract period in the case of lucrative projects.
Sources said the ministry has sought Cabinet’s approval for providing relief to road developers who have either started or are yet to undertake expansion work on project which are under “stress”. They added the stressed projects would be decided by the NHAI Board, which has representatives from highways and finance ministries besides the Planning Commission.
The ministry has proposed three options for Cabinet’s consideration. Sources said that the first proposal is to scrap all the 23 yet to start projects. Second option is to allow rescheduling of premium so that developers can take up work. The third option is to extend the relief to all premium projects.
The logic behind the third option is that those who have taken up work should not be penalized for going ahead while in many such cases the toll revenue have fallen due to bad economic condition.
Economic growth has direct relation to the toll revenue on roads.
CCEA would soon be considering proposal to reschedule premium payment worth Rs 98,000 cr to be paid by private concessionaries to NHAI for 23 road projects
The union ministry for road transport and Highways may yield to a request by the National Highways Authority of India to consider 16 more projects for premium rescheduling if the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decides to provide a one-time relief to 23 projects for rescheduling their premium.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs would soon be considering a proposal to reschedule premium payment worth Rs 98,000 crore to be paid by private concessionaires to NHAI for 23 road projects. If 16 more projects are approved for rescheduling then another Rs 53,000 crore premium payment due to be paid to NHAI would need to be rescheduled.
Companies including Larsen & Toubro, IDFC, Ashoka Buildcon and Oriental Structural Engineers are among the 16 companies looking to be considered for premium rescheduling for various projects, said an official. NHAI has been repeatedly holding meetings with officials in the ministry to take up the case of 16 projects as they fear a backlash from the project concessionaires.
“We can look at providing relief to the projects if CCEA agrees to reschedule premium in the first place. This is a one-time relief and not a policy, so we are hoping that they agree to it”, a senior official at ministry of Roads told Business Standard.
The issue of rescheduling for 16 projects emerged since these project developers had achieved the appointed date. It is the date on which the contract period begins. According to the norms, once a project is awarded to a concessionaire, it has to complete land acquisition and take clearances from the environment and forest ministry. The developer has to tie up funds besides meeting other norms. Once these norms are achieved, an appointed date for start of construction is said to have been achieved.
Meanwhile the official also added that the Finance Ministry has recommended that a stress test be conducted to find out the number of projects that are seriously affected due to various reasons before rescheduling their premium.“The finance ministry has recommended that we conduct a stress test to find out who are in real trouble and they have a valid point. With regards to the 16 projects, we feel that they need some help and we will see what we can do from our side”, the official added.
Premium is an amount that concessionaires pay to NHAI for a BoT (Build-Operate-Transfer) project as they feel that the returns from the project are expected to be very high and is usually decided on the basis of future traffic flow at the time of bidding.
The ministry is considering a premium rescheduling in a bid to give a breather to companies for a few years considering a slowdown in the economy. According to the premium rescheduling plan, concessionaires are expected to pay lesser premium for a few years and then subsequently increase their premium without affecting the total payment.
“Basically, it’s a breather so that we can kick start the projects and once traffic picks up, they can pay back higher amount in the future. At this point, we need these measures to encourage private sector investments”, an NHAI official said.
NHAI had in their board meeting proposed that 23 projects be considered for premium rescheduling and forwarded the request to the ministry of roads. Following concerns raised by the remaining project concessionaires, NHAI then requested that the remaining companies be added to the list.
The move to restructure premiums were proposed against the backdrop of some private infrastructure firms pulling out of road projects due to delays in regulatory clearances like land acquisition and environment clearances.
“Except a few cases, there is actually no need for premium restructuring. The government has actually taken a number of steps to ensure that the private sector is not affected and it is the companies who are at fault as they anticipated that the economy will continue to grow at the same pace as it did. There are some genuine cases where for reason such as a ban on mining, the traffic flow has fallen, But otherwise there is no genuine.
(Road Ministry’s proposal, to be taken up by the CCEA, suggests that companies can pay less premium in initial 2-3 years and the remaining amount in subsequent years.)
NEW DELHI: The government is likely to consider a proposal on Friday for restructuring of premium payment for companies building highway projects.At present, companies pay some amount of premium to the government in the first year of the project which keeps on increasing in the subsequent years.
According to sources, the Road Ministry’s proposal, which would be taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, suggests that companies can pay less premium in initial 2-3 years and the remaining amount in subsequent years.
There will be no change in the value of the premium but companies can pay lesser amount initially, which is like a breather for the firms, sources said.
The Cabinet note for the proposal was circulated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways last month.
The move was proposed against the backdrop of some private infratstructure firms pulling out of road projects due to delays in regulatory clearances like land acquisition and environment clearances.
These problems had delayed the projects and affected the companies’ financials.
Earlier this year some private companies even terminated their contracts with the National Highways Authority of India ( NHAI) citing these reasons.
Therefore, in order to relieve the companies facing financial stress the Road Ministry proposed the idea of recasting the premium payment of the projects.
The ministry is also believed to have suggested that the restructured premium for any year should not be lower than the toll collected by the developer for that year and the developer cannot pull out from the project till all dues to the government are paid.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod to two-laning of the Uniara-Nainwa-Hindoli-Jahajpur-Shahpura-Gulabpura section of NH-148D in Rajasthan for Rs 774.33 crore.
The government today approved a highways project worth Rs 774.33 crore in Rajasthan to be built under its flagship road building programme, National Highways Development Project (NHDP). “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for two-laning with Paved Shoulders of the Uniara-Nainwa-Hindoli-Jahajpur-Shahpura-Gulabpura section of NH-148D in Rajasthan under the NHDP Phase IV, on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis,” an official statement said. Also read: Law Min agrees to equity sales for PPP road projects The cost of the 204-km project has been estimated at Rs 774.33 crore. The project will expedite improvement of infrastructure in Rajasthan and also reduce the time and cost of travel particularly for heavy traffic plying on NH-148D between Uniara-Nainwa-Hindoli-Jahajpur-Shahpura-Gulabpura, an official statement said. This stretch connects three National Highways — NH-79, NH-12 and NH-116 — and passes through three districts of Bhilwara, Bundi and Tonk. This stretch will help in improving the socio-economic condition of this region of the State. It will also increase the employment potential for local labourers for project activities, the statement said.
The project will cost around 6,300 crore rupees and the total estimated additional central assistance is about 4,450 crore rupees.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved funding for procurement of ten thousand buses and ancillary infrastructure for urban transport under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for all cities with special emphasis on hill states.
Decision to this effect was taken at a CCEA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday evening.
The project will cost around 6,300 crore rupees and the total estimated additional central assistance is about 4,450 crore rupees.
The funding will improve urban services particularly urban transport in cities and towns.
(The government on Thursday approved the 4-laning of Dimapur-Kohima National Highway in Nagaland at a total cost of Rs 1,089.87 crore.)
NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday approved the 4-laning of Dimapur-Kohima National Highway in Nagaland at a total cost of Rs 1,089.87 crore.”The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the implementation of the project of 4-laning of the Dimapur-Kohima section from 124.1 km to 172.9 km of NH-39,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at a press briefing.
This project is under the special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) in North Eastern Region, he said.
The total length of the road will be 42.8 km with total project cost of Rs 1,089.87 crore (excluding land acquisition and pre-construction).
The concessionaire will make all expenditure to complete the project and will charge the annuity from the Government.
“The main object of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Nagaland. It will facilitate reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic playing between Dimapur to Kohima. It will also increase the potential of employment to local labourers for project activities,” he said.
This project was delayed due to delay in land acquisition process in the state.
At present, Nagaland has 494 km of National Highways.
