The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry is likely to spend the unspent Rs 8,500 crore – raised by NHAI through tax-free bonds – if it gets clearances for award of projects through the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode, the Ministry said on February 2.
If the Ministry get the procedural permission for award of 4,000 km on EPC mode timely, then committed liability will be there. The Ministry will be able to exhaust the funds within this fiscal, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi said. The Finance Ministry has expressed concerns over National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) inability to utilise funds raised through tax-free bonds last fiscal. The authority has parked about Rs 8,500 crore with banks.
Joshi said the Ministry intends to award projects for construction of 4,000 km through engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode and was hopes to get procedural clearances soon. Finance Ministry’s concern is that the road ministry should see to it that maximum number of projects are successfully bid. The government is going to EPC where 100 per cent funding is by the Ministry. The Ministry is expecting clearances soon, Joshi said.
The Ministry has pinned all hopes on EPC mode for award of road projects to pick up momentum as it has been able to award barely 1,000 km of projects so far against a target of 9,500 km for the fiscal.
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