Govt to invite bids for mega road projects

The government today said it will invite bids within two months for awarding mega road projects.

"We will invite bids for mega road projects in the next 4-8 weeks," Transport Minister Kamal Nath told reporters after a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Last year, Nath had said 'mega' projects of 400 km each would be awarded to speed up the road building programme in the country.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had then identified nine such projects requiring an investment of about Rs 4,000 crore each.

The length of the identified stretches vary between 390 km and 700 km.

Nath also said the Phase-IV of the National Highways Development Project could also include constructing 4-lane highways. "The Phase-IV can also include four-laning if the traffic demands so."

NHDP Phase-IV was initially envisaged for converting about 20,000 km of single lane highways into 2-lane standards.

The EGoM, which reviewed progress of the road sector in past 10 months, was also attended by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.