NHAI plans to build 1,000 km of expressways

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to construct 1,000 km of expressways on the BOT (toll; build-operate-transfer) model.

“We have started preparing the alignment and also acquiring land for the Vadodara-Mumbai section,” said a senior NHAI official, who did not want to be identified. The other three sections where expressway work is expected to be taken up are Delhi-Meerut, Kolkata-Dhanbad and Bangalore-Chennai. “We are doing a viability check of these projects,” said the official.

Expressway construction is part of the sixth phase of the National Highways Development Programme. The official said they would need to expand the ambit of the award structure, by adding more incentives for the developer in the concession agreements. NHAI estimates a km of expressway would cost around Rs 55 crore to build. It is discussing models to offer longer concession periods and land pockets for real estate development along the stretches, to attract developers for the project.

The Model Concession Agreement (MCA) will not change much for the expressways. “As of now, we have not proposed any change in the existing model. If there is any change for the expressways’ award, we will make those in the MCA,” said the official. Increasing the concession period and offering land for real estate development could be some of these.

The Union road transport and highways ministry had proposed to build a huge network of expressways to connect areas with high traffic capacity by 2022, also the final year of the 13th Five-Year Plan. The ministry had earlier planned to build expressways in three phases — by 2012, 2017 and 2022 — and, accordingly, it had prepared a draft report for a network of 17,661-km. However, the plan has not taken off because of a paucity of funds.

The government also wanted to form an Expressway Authority of India, on the lines of NHAI, but that plan was scrapped, after the government limited the expressway plan. As of now, NHAI has been mandated to develop these projects. An expressway wing in NHAI is monitoring the work.