Govt awards road projects with 1,5000-km length

The government has awarded a record length of highway projects of over 15,000 km involving over Rs 1.5 lakh crore investment during 2017-18 financial year, said official sources, claiming that the length of road construction figure is also expected to touch maximum ever of more than 9,000 km. NHAI, which undertakes the major road and highway development works, said that it has awarded a major chunk of 3,400 km on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) involving a staggering investment worth Rs 76,500 crore.

While award of works under this model has given NHAI more room to push the pace of projects bidding out works, what remains to be seen is how quickly work can start on these stretches since highway builders will have to raise finance within six months before they can start construction. In this model, government takes the risk of collecting toll, pays the full amount for construction and finance cost to the private builders as they maintain the road stretch for the contract period.