Road projects worth Rs 5,939 cr approved

Eight highway projects worth Rs 5,939 crore for five states -- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Sikkim and Assam -- were approved today by a high- level government panel.
"The EFC/SFC (Expenditure Finance Committee/Standing Finance Committee) today approved eight projects with a total project cost of Rs 5,939 crore," a Road Transport and Highways Ministry official said.
Of these, four will be implemented in hybrid annuity mode while two will be constructed under EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode.
Four of the projects with a total cost of Rs 4,876 crore have been approved for Maharashtra which include four-laning of Chikhali to Tarsod (package 1) section of NH-6 and four- laning of Waranga-Mahagaon section of NH-361, both under hybrid annuity mode.

The remaining two for Maharashtra include four-laning of Mahagaon -Yavatmal section and of Yavatmal-Wardha section of NH-361 on hybrid annuity model.
The Rs 574-crore project for Andhra Pradesh pertains to two-laning of Barsagaon to Rahatee section of NH 214A while for Telangana the Ministry approved two-laning of Barasagon to Rahatee section of another national highway.

The other two projects pertain to shifting of utilities in West Sikkim and a revised estimate of two-laning of Silchar in Assam.
No Cabinet approval is required for the projects cleared today as the government, in a bid to fast-track highways projects, had recently empowered Road Transport and Highways Ministry to approve projects with civil construction cost up to Rs 1,000 crore.

It has made it clear that civil construction cost would be segregated from capital cost of projects.
This was done to reduce time as multiple stages of examination and appraisal of the same project by different Ministry/Department/Committees caused delays in award of National Highways projects.
Taking note of such difficulties and with a view to minimise levels of decision making, the CCEA has empowered the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to decide on the change in the mode of delivery of individual NH projects.
The Cabinet had earlier this year approved hybrid annuity model for building roads to fast-track highway projects, revive the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode and attract more investments in the sector.

Under this model, the government provides 40 per cent of the project cost to the developer while remaining 60 per cent investment has to be made by the developer.