China evinces interest in constructing highways in India

NEW DELHI: China's state-run engineering giant CRCC has shown interest in participating in projects related to construction of highways by NHAI, Parliament was informed today.

"A high level delegation from the CRCC has shown interest in projects of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)," Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways P Radhakrishnan said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Road Transport and Highways Ministry has set an ambitious target of building 15,000 km of roads and award another 25,000 km projects in this fiscal, which is about two-and-a-half times higher than last year's.

"CRCC has also shown interest to participate in the upcoming projects of NHAI under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Hybrid Annuity Model," he added.

China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd, in 2015, was ranked 79th among the Fortune Global 500 and 8th among the Communist nation's Top 500 Enterprises, as per information on its website.

The business of China's largest engineering contractor covers project contracting, survey design consultation, real estate development, logistics, industrial manufacturing, trade of goods and materials as well as capital operations.

Its overseas business, spread in over 60 countries and regions, includes building Tanzam Railway (Tanzania-Zambia) and USD 8.3 billion Nigerian Railway Modernisation Project. CRCC is the first Chinese contractor to have entered the overseas market.