Govt making efforts to boost PPP in highways sector: Fernandes

Govt is continuously making efforts to create a conducive environment to channelise the private sector financing

The government today said it is continuously making efforts to boost the public-private partnership in the highways sector.

"India is one country where the private sector financing is taking place on a big way in the shape of public-private partnership (PPP) projects. The government is continuously making efforts to create a conducive environment to channelise the private sector financing," Road Transport and Highways Minister Oscar Fernandes said at an event here.

The highways sector is a thrust area of the government, he said, adding that the Centre has made substantial efforts to address the shortcomings in the sector.

"In this year budget, government had already announced setting up of a regulatory mechanism on which work is going on, besides the issues of debt management/debt refinancing, institutional strengthening, restructuring of projects, revision of MCA are being examined and being regularity reviewed and revised," the Minister said.

The government is committed to an all-round development of road network in the country and India is soon going to have one of the world's most extensive national highway networks through various phases of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

"We are also planning for constructing green field expressways," he said.

At the same time, he stressed that adding lanes to existing highways and upgrading existing roads in initial phase would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He said highways were assets which needed "to be preserved qualitatively through asset management initiatives".

"We need to work out appropriate maintenance strategies keeping in view the available budget and the required demand. This concept is having high relevance in the big ticket long term projects of PPP segment," the Minister said.

After a dismal show in the last fiscal, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry had scaled down its projects award target by nearly half to 5,000 km in this financial year compared to a target of 9,500 km in 2012-13.

Last fiscal, the Ministry was barely able to award 15% of the targeted 9,500 km of highways on account of a number of factors including delay in clearances and equity crunch by developers.