India, Austria to explore opportunities in road sector

NEW DELHI: India today invited Austria to participate in its flagship road building programme - NHDP, especially with its expertise in tunnel making.

"I have welcomed Austrian companies to participate in National Highways Development Project (NHDP) under which the Ministry has plans to bid out schemes for widening 30,000 km of roads. They can bid out for projects," Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi told PTI after Austrian Ambassador to India Ferdinand Maultaschl called on him.

Joshi said for massive road building projects, India needed developers and Austrian companies had expertise in tunnel making and they were already executing a project in Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh.

He said there were plans to build some tunnels in Zozila and Kargil region in Jammu & Kashmir and if interested the companies could participate in bidding.

The Ministry has told them that 100 per cent foreign direct investment is allowed in the road sector, Joshi added.

He said that the government was exploring opportunities for memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Austria for development of the road sector.

A high-level delegation from Austria is likely to visit India in October to explore the possibilities of such cooperation.

The government plans to bid out road projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore to be built under public-private-partnership under NHDP, which is being executed in several phases.