With escalated construction costs excarberating to halved traffic growth projections, M Murali explains the startling fact that delays stood at an average of 73 per cent beyond the original timelines.
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Category: Roads & Highways
Redrafted MCA The roads beckon … again
The Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for National Highway development, which attracted aggressive bids soon after it was revised in 2009, was more of a first draft that also led to delays, disputes and project exits. As a cascading effect, this has resulted in fewer takers for new projects. Janaki Krishnamoorthi examines the revisions that are due in the MCA for highways.
New MCA will have four changes, including dispute resolution
BK Chaturvedi, Member of the Planning Commission of India, is in the hot seat. It was his draft of the original MCA in roads that made all the difference to PPP in roads. Now itĂ´s time to debug that document, he tells Garima P.
Have investors been withdrawing on account of the existing Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for highways?
Quite a few people have been attacking the MCA saying that provisions need to be changed. Now that the economy is not doing well, it is easy to blame the MCA for
Panel suggestions to bring relief to hway developers
The C Rangarajan Committee is expected to suggest reduction and deferment of premium to be paid by road developers to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Hence, with the panel measures, several highway developers are set to get major relief. Rangarajan committee is likely to recommend that for six-laning of highway projects, at least 25 per cent reduction in annual premium payment to NHAI during construction period and about 50 per cent during subsequent years.
Govt may increase defect liability period for roads
The government could make builders liable for defects on the main carriageway for five years instead of the present two years. This measure has been said to be taken by the government to ensure that roads are maintained better in the city. The governments proposed move comes after Prime Minister Manmohan SinghĂ´s directive to address issues of quality of roads built under the EPC model.
Punjabs road connectivity plans
Punjab governmentĂ´s Ă´Draft Master Plan 2031Ă´has elicited the wide range public opinion that better road connectivity of Chandigarh with Mohali and Mullanpur was the main concern of Punjab people. Hearing on the objections/suggestions pertaining to the draft Master Plan 2031 was held on 26 November. The Punjab government suggested that the road network should be strengthened by construction of additional roads.
Kerala road policy
Kerala Public Works Department is mulling to come up with its State Road Policy to develop a sustainable road network which would meet the traffic requirements of the future. Draft of the policy will be an improvised version of the one prepared four years back. The formulation of Kerala Road Policy will be discussed at the high-level meet of PWD officials.
Panel to check traffic
To ascertain the accuracy of road developersĂ´ claims of financial stress due to lower toll revenues, a Union government panel has called for a traffic survey on 47 highways. The panel has been appointed by the Union Cabinet to examine bailout demands of highway developers. The panel is headed by C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime MinisterĂ´s Economic Advisory Council.
Green highway
GAIL (India) has stated that India would soon have a green corridor wherein vehicles can
opt to run on natural gas. The proposed green highway from Jalandhar-Ludhiana to Bangalore will provide opportunities to inland transportation to operate on natural gas vehicles by expanding the
reach of compressed natural gas (CNG) beyond cities.
Marketing road projects
To market its projects both abroad and in India, the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry is looking to hire industry bodies and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The governmentĂ´s move comes after private investors showed disinterest in the road projects this year. For its expressway projects worth over Rs 30,000 crore and 15 other highway projects in the pipeline, the Ministry is looking to engage the industry bodies and IFC.



