Highway award and implementation has faced a major slowdown this fiscal, but most of the factors are the usual suspects. Then why is this year different? Rohit Chaturvedi and Tejaswi Subramanian explain the potential pitfalls and silver lining in the sluggishness. After a year of aggressive bidding and flourishing business, the road sector has seen a marked slowdown this year in the number of allotments made or expected to be made by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Category: Roads & Highways
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Phase it: The fourth is a challenge
Highways will continue to be sluggish until the unattractive Phase IV projects are completed. With the road sector is poised to undergo a further change in the coming years, the industry as a whole, needs to continue tapping the advantages of road transportation more efficiently and optimally than ever before, writes Bhavik Damodar. The road transportation sector continues to struggle to cater to the countryÂ’s size and widely spread consumption hubs.
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Prudency has returned as aggression has cooled down
Large players will continue to opt for BOT model as it provides reasonable return over long gestation period, says Sudhir R Hoshing, CEO (Roads), Reliance Infrastructure, in an interview with Sumantra Das. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come a long way in the manner in which its roads are managed. From bringing transparency in bidding process through on-line bidding to taking steps to expedite approval and clearance process,
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The bidding process is good for small, medium and large players
Banks’ new stipulation of 100 per cent land availability for highway projects, along with poor response from bidders and financial closure difficulties among concessionaires, have hampered the awards and implementation, says JN Singh, Member—Finance, NHAI, in an interview with Sumantra Das. Major reason behind this is the poor responses from the concessionaires and in some of our bids (about 7-8) we haven’t even find any bidder. Secondly, banks also are asking our 100 per cent land availability
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Govt should review taxtion issues for better road infra
Sustaining interest of private players in India’s road sector is of paramount importance. For doing so if the government needs to make some small sacrifices in the immediate future, it is indeed worth as this will reap rich dividends in the future through overall development of the economy—and tax reforms will go a long way in this direction, proposes Hemant Kanoria.
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Electronic toll collection will reduce commute time
ETC at toll plazas with interoperability can help reduce peak-hour congestion on urban highways with faster automated toll collection, writes Girish Shirodkar. The Punjab & Haryana High Court opened a new chapter in the Indian infrastructure story, when on September 4, 2012 it forbade toll collection on the busy Delhi-Gurgaon expressway for a period of 15 days, later extended till September 30. Toll collection was restored on October 1 in non-peak hours and on October 8 in peak hours. This is th
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Coordinated efforts among government, developers needed
Lack of coordination between the various government agencies that are involved in the road/highway construction business and improper policy initiatives hamper the prospects of roads sector, experts feel. Private funding of infrastructure has become a mainstay of the Government of IndiaÂ’s policy towards infrastructure deveÂlopment.
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Tariff Authority for Major Ports should be abolished
Differential tariffs for major and minor or private ports will have a debilitating impact on investment in major ports such as JNPT, says L Radhakrishnan, Chairman, JNPT, in an interview with Janaki Krishnamoorthi. Over the years, the Indian ports sector has witnessed structural changes, with state monopoly gradually giving way to greater private sector participation in port investÂment.
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Bankers to lend `8.3 bn for `11 bn road project
A consortium of bankers agreed to provide Rs 830 crore syndicated loan to Hospet-Chitradurga Tollways (HCTL) for the Rs 1,102.81-crore road project in Karnataka. HCTL is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed to undertake the Hospet- Chitradurga road project by Ramky Infrastructure. The consortium of bankers comprises Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, IIFCL, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, Central Bank of India and Oriental Bank of Commerce, Ramky Inf
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Pune Road Devlopment
To develop a road network of 24,569 km in Pune division comprising Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur districts, the Pune Divisional Commissionerate has sought Rs 2,500 crore from the central and the state governments. The commissionerate has also sought around Rs 800 crore for repair of roads.