Highways ministry clears projects worth Rs 17,000 cr

Land for majority of projects already acquired; total length of roads to be laid is 982 km

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways approved 18 national highways projects worth Rs 17,000 crore. The total length of the road is 982 km and will be executed on EPC (Engineering, Procurement Construction), BOT (Toll) and Hybrid annuity model. The project would be spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh etc.

The government is planning to award these projects by March this year. Sources added in majority of the projects, land has already been acquired by the government.

The project was approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) meeting which was held under Secretary Road Transport and Highways.

"We had a meeting today and we have cleared 18 national highway projects having total project cost of Rs. 17,000 crore. Out of the total, nine projects will be executed under hybrid annuity mode, eight projects on EPC mode and one projects through BOT (Toll) mode," said sources.

Sources added that by March this year, all the projects will be awarded and it will take around two and a half year for completion.

In a bid to fast-track highways projects, the government last year empowered Road Transport and Highways Ministry to approve projects with civil construction cost up to Rs 1,000 crore. This was done by segregating civil construction cost from capital cost of projects.

The government is planning to award 10,000 km of national highway during this fiscal year. Till December, it has awarded contracts for 6,353 km of roads.