Highways ministry seeks Rs 3,400 crore for repairs

The government is likely to approve Rs 3,400 of crore of additional spending on the national higways for the current financial year. After unprecedented rains damaged roads, the road transport and highways ministry has sought more money for repair.

At the Economic Editors’ Conference here today, R S Gujral, the ministry’s secretary, said, Rs 1,000 crore was being asked for overall maintenance and Rs 1,650 for roads other than those covered under the National Highways Development Project. Besides, Rs 700 crore had been sought from the central roads fund and Rs 50 crore for repair of bridges, he said.

Claiming the department was currently building roads at 12 km a day, minister Kamal Nath said in the past 10 months, Rs 36,000 crore of funds have been tied up for the national highways.

He said the ministry awarded just eight projects in 2008-09 (before he took charge). “The whole process caught pace in October 2009 and since then till now, we have been able to award 66 projects,” said Nath.

Of the projects awarded, 89 per cent have been on build-operate-transfer (toll), one to two per cent on engineering, procurement and contract (EPC) and the rest on BOT.