Infrastructure: In Bharatmala push, NHAI plans to award 3000 km projects

After having awarded road projects of 7,400 kilometre length last fiscal, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is considering giving out projects of around 3,000 km in the initial two months of the current financial year. “In FY18, the NHAI has awarded 150 road projects of 7,400 km worth Rs 122,000 crore. In the last five years, the average length of road projects awarded by NHAI was 2,860 km with 4,335 km awarded in the last financial year. In comparison, the length of projects awarded in FY18 is an all-time high and a record achievement by NHAI since its inception in 1995,” NHAI said. In order to keep up the pace to implement ambitious Bharatmala Programme, the NHAI intends to award another 3,000-odd km of projects in the next couple of months of the new fiscal. NHAI officials state that the increase in awarding of the project in FY18 is due to Bharatmala Programme.

“Tendering and awarding projects picked up only after the sanction of ambitious Bharatmala Programme and subsequent new procedure for sanction being put in place in November 2017. Under the new protocol, the NHAI Board was delegated full powers for sanctioning engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. Following that high powered Projects Appraisal Committee and Cost Committee were put in place in NHAI,” said an NHAI spokesperson.

"Since the Bharatmala Programme has sanctioned for implementation, a total of 232 projects were put on tenders involving around 11,200 km of road length having a cost of over Rs 1,96,000 crore. Some measures were also undertaken to expedite land acquisition, by recruiting retired officers, however, there continue to be issues in acquiring land to complete road projects. “But for the delay in land acquisition in some states, the award figures could have been still higher,” said NHAI.

By Ateeq Shaikh

(Source: DNA Money)