CCEA approves to four-laning of Cuddapah-Kurnool section of NH 18

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday gave its approval to four-laning of Cuddapah-Kurnool section of national highway (NH)- 18 in Andra Pradesh.

The project is a part of National Highways development Programme (NHDP) phase-III. The project cost is estimated at Rs 1754 crore and the concession period- period in which the developer will recover its investment by charging toll- is 30 years including 2.5 years of construction period.

The CCEA also cleared four-laning of Walayar- Vadakkancherry section and six-laning of Vadakkancherry- Thrissur section of NH-47 in Kerala.

The projects are part of NHDP phase II. The project cost for four-laning is estimated at Rs 687 crore and that of six-laning is estimated at Rs 644 crore. The concession period for both projects is 20 years including 2.5 years of construction period.

The Government has capped the Viability Gap Funding (VGF)-grant that government gives to the private developer to make a project viable- at 40% for all road projects.

The road projects will be developed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under the standard build-operate-transfer (BoT) model. The first stage of the bidding process, that is pre-qualification of the bidders, has already been completed and the second stage involving price bids, is in progress.

In another decision, the CCEA approved continuation of the scheme that includes preparing detailed reports on various irrigation projects including linking of rivers, during the XI Five Year Plan. An outlay of Rs 223 crore has been sanctioned for the scheme.

Other major decision includes, de-linking of the pay scales of the faculty (professors, associate professors and assistant professors) in Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Kolkata from the UGC (University Grants Commission) pay scales and bringing them at par with those in the Indian Institute of Science(IISc) Banglore.

The proposal, considered by the Union Cabinet, was forwarded by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.