Bids for 3,500-km of projects expected this month

Banks and financial institutions are now showing keen interest in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) for funding highway projects in India, undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Financial closure of HAM projects is now happening smoothly, according to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Meanwhile, NHAI is expected to invite bids for building 3,500-km of highways by end of this month, following on its aggressive tender calls for 4,900 km of projects as end of November 2017.

More projects for bidding during Jan-March 2018 will be identified around the 4th week of December 2017, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

NHAI has already awarded contracts worth Rs.22,100 crore, covering 1,170-km so far while bids for many other projects are under evaluation.

Some of the projects that were bid out this year include:
· Dwarka Expressway in Delhi;
· Varanasi Ring Road Phase-II in Uttar Pradesh;
· Khambataki Ghat 6-lane Tunnel on Pune – Satara Section in Maharashtra;
· Jodhpur Ring Road in Rajasthan;
· Bridge at Manihari Ghat (near Sahibganj) in Bihar;
· 6-laning of Chordaha – Gorhar – Barwa Adda in Jharkhand;
· 4-laning of Ghoshpukur – Salsalabari in West Bengal;
· 4-laning of Bhopal – Biaora in Madhya Pradesh;
· 4-laning of Cuttack – Angul Section in Odisha;
· 6-laning of Bengaluru – Mysore Section in Karnataka;
· Fully Access Controlled Expressway (Anandapuram-Pendurthi-Anakapalli) with connectivity to Visakhapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh

For fiscal year FY 2017-18, NHAI’s accelerated programme has completed 1,566-km projects under implementation till November 2017 or 5,060 lane-km.

NHAI’s target for this year is to construct 3,500-km.

The last 5 years of average completion was 2,175-km. In FY 2016-17, NHAI completed 2,628-km of projects.

Work on 12 new projects, covering 597-km, has commenced with another 38 projects, covering 1,969-km, starting soon.

NHAI is making all out efforts to achieve its target of awarding 10,000 km during 2017-18.

It is also gearing up to complete Phase I of the recently approved “Bharatmala Pariyojana” within the next five years, or 2021-22.

The Government has also authorized NHAI Board to appraise and approve projects on Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) mode, which constitute 30% of the Pariyojana.

Accordingly, the NHAI Board constituted two appraisal committees for appraising projects costing more than Rs.500 crore and internal appraisal committees for appraising projects up to Rs.500 Crore.

NHAI Chairman has also been delegated to approve projects up to Rs.500 crore and the NHAI Executive Committee for projects costing Rs.500-1,000 crore.

Among others, the process of land acquisition and project-related clearances are being expedited with regular stakeholders’ meetings. fii-news.com