Govt okays seven NHDP projects worth Rs 6,000 cr

NEW DELHI: The government has cleared seven highway projects worth Rs 6,000 crore under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). These are the first set to be cleared under phase-V of the NHDP, which involves six-laning of 6,500 km of national highways, including the Golden Quadrilateral.

The projects okayed include six-laning of Surat-Dahesar, Panipat-Jallandhar, Chennai-Tada and Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur. With an average length of 150 km, the stretches would be developed on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll model, for which the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will now start inviting bids.

The road schemes were approved by the public-private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC) on Friday. This phase covers development of corridors or sections with high traffic density, which are otherwise important economically or from tourism point of view.

These corridors have already been four-laned under the first phase of the NHDP, and will be six-laned under the fifth phase. The government is expecting most projects to be awarded on negative grant. NHDP-V is expected to be completed by 2010.

The ministry of shipping, road transport and highways will set monthly target for receiving requests for proposal, feasibility reports and approvals from the PPP-AC to ensure timely completion of the road work. For NHDP-V, the government will first award 1,067 km by July 2007 at a cost of Rs 7,425 crore. In the second phase, 1,928 km will be awarded at a cost of Rs 12,223 crore by March 2008.