Industrial Growth Revives In April

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to incur a cumulative expenditure of Rs 1,500 crore to meet construction costs of 32 projects.

At least two of the projects are expected to be completed this year. The remaining 30 are estimated to be completed between the year 2000 and 2002. These include 18 projects on the North-South-East-West corridor, for which engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contracts were awarded in May and July this year.

Official sources said for another eight projects, preparation work was in advanced stages, of which three had multilateral support. These include the 33-kilometre Chandikole-Jagatpur stretch in Orissa, funded by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF), the 176-km stretch of the Surat-Manor project in Gujarat, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and a 400-km stretch on NH2, with support from the World Bank.

 

The sources said the funds for these two projects were yet to be finalised and would be taken up only after the institutions had cleared the loans.

Five projects are to be taken up directly by the NHAI or through private sector participation. This includes conversion of the Jaipur-Kishangarh stretch to six lanes, for which pre qualification bids have been invited after preparation of a draft concession pact. For the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway project, ICICI has already been appointed as financial advisors, although the financing for the project is yet to be fully tied up.

Sources said during the current year alone, Rs 1,000 crore was expected to be spent to meet the funding costs of projects. me="description" content="The BJP yesterday gave recognition to the Sharad Yadav-led Janata Dal (United)as an entity within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA