NHDP may go the extra mile to attract foreign funds

NEW DELHI: The government plans to invite bids for longer stretches of road projects in the phase V of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) to attract foreign investors.

In the first phase, the government will 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. While the first phase consists of six stretches, the second phase consists of 13 stretches. Among the stretches to be awarded, Kishengarh-Udaipur is one of the costliest projects, worth Rs 2,000 crore.

While the average size of contracts has been about 60 km, phase V, which includes six-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral, would have 150 km as the average size of contract. The ministry of shipping, road transport and highways will also set monthly targets for receiving requests for proposal, feasibility reports and approvals from the public-private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC).

“The projects would take 30 months from the date of award, so NHDP-V should be completed by 2010 end,” a government official said. The target for award in 2007-08 is 2,995 km. All projects under the phase would be awarded on build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll basis.

“The response to expression of interest (EoI) for feasibility reports has been encouraging. Private concessionaires will not face traffic risk since there is a guaranteed traffic of more than 20,000 passenger car units (PCU) on the stretches,” the official said.

The government is not expecting delays due to problems in land acquisition, which has adversely affected previous phases of NHDP. “Six-laning of the highways would not face land hurdles, since most of the existing four-lane highways have a carriageway of about 60 km that does not require additional land for construction,” he said.