BK Chaturvedi panel's report may get Cabinet nod today

Recommendations of the BK Chaturvedi Committee — set up to recommend ways to expedite various road projects in the country — may be accepted at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) tomorrow.

The panel submitted its report last month that had been accepted by the Planning Commission.

“The Chaturvedi Committee has given its report and the Planning Commission has accepted it. We sent the report to the Cabinet and it may come up for approval at the Cabinet committee meeting tomorrow,” said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath.

Nath had earlier said that all issues in the model concession agreement (MCA) for highway projects would be cleared by September-end.

Headed by Planning Commission member BK Chaturvedi, the committee also comprises Road Secretary Brahm Dutt and Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla.

The committee has suggested providing sovereign guarantee to loans taken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Among changes in the MCA, the committee has suggested raising the threshold limit in the conflict of interest clause. As of now, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in which any developer had more than 5 per cent shareholding each were barred from bidding for the same project.

Introduction of ‘exit clause’ is also a suggestion. Current norms bar the lead partner in an SPV to exit by selling its stake after the construction of the project is over and is mandated to stay till the concession period is over.

The other suggestions are abolition of a ‘termination clause’ from the MCA. The clause allows NHAI to take back tolling rights from a concessionaire anytime before the concession period is over, if the concessionaire has recovered its investment on the project.