While the road sector is arguably in a sweet spot, land acquisition is unquestionably the biggest hurdle afflicting roads development.
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Construction risk is higher than post-construction risk
The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is planning a third fund targeting investment in greenfield projects, with a view to provide long-tenor financing. Sujoy Bose, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NIIF shares some insights, particularly on the roads sector.
The Big Infra Opportunity
Stakeholders harp on the government's infrastructure push and expect construction orders of Rs.18 trillion in the next six years. This order inflow volume should support 12 to 15 per cent of industry-level execution of compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Funding Not a Constraint for Road Building Programmes
In an exclusive interview to INFRASTRUCTURE TODAY, Debjani Chakrabarti, Director Highways, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) elucidates some of the key funding strategies being utilised by India as a part of the country's ambitious Rs 7 trillion roads building programme.
Ambitious Target
The initiatives that will have a direct bearing on the pace of execution include awarding projects after securing 80 per cent right of way, expediting projects stuck midway, delegating the power to grant forest clearances to regional offices, filing online for clearances to construct road over bridges (ROBs) and road under bridges (RUBs) and increasing the limit on sand mining.
Traction Ahead!
The Railways has sizeable capex plans for the five year period 2015-19 involving a capital outlay of Rs.8.56 trillion. The annual capital outlay for FY2016-18 was increased significantly to meet the five-year targets. NITI Aayog has also finalised the three year action agenda (2018-20).
Road Widening Under Progress
The last two decades witnessed highway infrastructure being developed on a massive scale in the country. Now the government has unveiled another huge new highway development programme (covering 83,000 km) under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, which will see a paradigm shift in highway development with focus on improving the efficiency of the national corridor and a long-term view on the highways network.
Low-value projects are among the most challenging
The $1billion US-based engineering and construction management company, Louis Berger, has been active in India for over 20 years. The New Jersey-based corporation is engaged in a slewof projects, including bridges, tunnels, roads, highways, railways, and transit, aviation and smart cities.
TOT would enable more assets recycling
The recent TOT bids have shown that this model can be ideal for international institutional investors who have appetite for long-term investments and access to low-cost debts.
Bharatmala has a realistic vision to improve roads
About 24,800 km of road projects are to be developed over the next five years between 2017-18 and 2021-22 under the ambitious Bharatmala Programme.