Nhai To Implement Three Highway Projects

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), a public sector undertaking under the surface transport ministry, has decided to take up implementation of at least three national highway projects. The projects will be funded by NHAI.

These are the Dehu-Lonavala-Khandala project, the Karnal-Samalakha and the Kandla-Samakhiali project. Preparations for inviting pre-qualification bids are in progress.

Contractors will be appointed through competitive bidding.

The Dehu-Lonavala-Khandala highway project is to come up in Maharashtra for upgradation of a 40-km route on the Mumbai-Pune highway involving an expenditure of about Rs 100 crore. Detailed feasibility studies have been conducted by the NHAI.

Tenders for pre-qualification bids are scheduled to be floated around mid-May. Tenders have already been invited for pre-qualification bids for the Karnal-Samalakha highway project to come up in Haryana.

The job involves the completion of the leftover work of the earlier contractor.

NHAI rescinded the earlier contract for lapses on the part of the contractor. The project is estimated to cost about Rs 70 crore.

The Kandala-Samakhiali project is essentially a port linkage scheme to facilitate flow of cargo traffic to and from the Kandala port in Gujarat. It will run up to Gandhidham. The length of the route is 55 kms. NHAI has already conducted a feasibility study. Tenders for pre-qualification bids are to be invited within a month.

What has prompted the National Highway Authority of India to take up the projects, with the help of its funds, is the Rs 500 crore equity support given by the government to NHAI for the current fiscal. This is Rs 300 crore more than support given by the government in 1996-97.

R L Kaul, member (investment), NHAI, said the projects were in addition to the private sector ventures which are to come up on a build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis.

The major projects are the national corridor ventures meant to broaden two lanes into four lanes on the national highways linking the four metros of Calcutta, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. While the total four-lane route length is about 4,000kms the cost involved is approximately Rs 12,000 crore. The work allocation process to the successful bidders will start after detailed project reports are prepared for all stretches.

Kaul added that the job of conducting a feasibility study for the Surat-Manore project in Maharashtra has already been awarded. The route length of the Rs 540-crore project is 180 kms. Similarly, the DPR for upgradation of the 50km Delhi-Gurgaon highway has also been awarded.

Tenders for pre-qualification bids have already been issued for upgradation of the 93km Jaipur-Kishuganj BOT project to come up on the national highway eight. The last date for the receipt of bids is July 14.

The BOT projects include the 18km long Nellore by-pass on national highway five in Andhra Pradesh (cost Rs 80 crore), the 17km Durg by-pass (Rs 66 crore) and the second Narmada bridge project in Gujarat (Rs 123 crore).

Kaul said the highway privatisation scheme was bound to take some time to take off due to the long gestation period, specially for the bigger projects.

As for the small projects, about three or four jobs have already been awarded and they are under implementation, he added. Another bunch of big and small projects were in the final stages of allotment, Kaul revealed. The Thane-Bhiwandi new bypass in Maharashtra, built on a BOT basis, is expected to be formally open to traffic in June, he said.