Experts say that the Budget announcement about the setting up of a regulator for roads is a blessing in disguise for India's highways sector. They say that the dispute-heavy sector can now look forward to a third party to resolve them, in the form of a regulator.

Our roads sector wants to go cool, and with good reason. Minister CP Joshi will be on Google Plus Hangout on 29 March; National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken another step towards its private partners.

The Union Road Transport Ministry's plan to provide an impetus to the ailing road construction industry by awarding 4,000 km of road projects on Engineering Procurement and Contract (EPC) this fiscal is unlikely to happen due to delay in getting approvals for these projects.

Reports indicate that the union government prefers to award road projects on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model because of poor interest shown by developers for PPP (BOT) model. It is learnt that the recent award of road projects witnessed a considerable decline in the number of bidders on the BOT toll basis

The Union government has stated that it won't be able to award 4,000 km of highways on 100 per cent government funding mode known as engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) during this fiscal. The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry was pinning its hope in these contracts to push its performance this year, at a time when private investors are showing no interest.

Slow progress in project execution coupled with subdued interest in bidding for new projects under current policy frame may give alternative option to call for revaluation or fresh bids for already allocated road projects. In order to avert this situation, a Performance Review Unit (PRU) proposed by the Planning Commission needs to be endowed with power to gather information from nodal agencies on clearances and incentivise or to regulate, writes Sumantra Das.

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).

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 country’s size and widely spread consumption hubs.

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,