New Delhi, July 28; The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has set an ambitious target of award of 25000 km of road projects in this financial year, which is more than the total award in last two years. In last two years, the Ministry awarded more than 18000 km of road projects. The Ministry has prepared an extensive financial plan to support this high award target. The Gross Budgetary Support for the Central Sector Roads for 2016-17 is Rs 43,807 Crore. Apart from this, NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) has been authorized to raise Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR)/Borrowings of Rs 59279 Crore during 2016-17. This shall be sufficient for the award of these projects.
The Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari gave this information to the Parliament today. He also said that his Ministry has been relentlessly working to expedite speedy implementation of road projects. Today about 21.8 km of roads are being constructed in a day. By expediting implementation of road projects through more than 21 policy decisions of the Cabinet, most of the stalled projects worth more than 3 lakh crore are now back on track. Shri Gadkari said that the Ministry has taken a policy decision to give appointment date only after 80% of land is acquired and all necessary clearances are provided. This has been done to address the main cause of delay in road projects. The Ministry has also prepared online approval system with Railway for the approval of Rail Over Bridge/Rail Under Bridge and standardized the bridge design. In one year alone, more than 100 ROB/RUB designs have been approved by Railways which earlier used to take 5-6 years. Shri Gadkari congratulated the Railways for supporting this initiative. He also said that for speedy environment and forest clearances, the Environment Ministry has delegated powers to Regional Officers to issue environment and forest clearances. Also, environment clearance is not required for a length of 100 km.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other Government agencies have taken various steps for expediting the construction of National Highways. These include holding regular meetings with Ministry officials, Regional Officers, project developers, State Governments , contractors , concessionaires /contractors to make the construction of projects hassle free. To expedite completion of these projects various steps have been taken which include streamlining of land acquisition & environment clearances, exit for equity investors, premium re-schedulement, close coordination with other Ministries, revamping of dispute resolution mechanism, frequent reviews at various levels etc. Further, the Government has taken major initiatives towards expediting implementation of languishing projects. The various measures taken include :
Environment and Forest Clearance
1-Delegation of powers to Regional Offices by Ministry of Environment and Forest.
2-EC (Environment Clearance) not required for length of 100 km. Even beyond 100 Km, EC is not required if widening is restricted to 40m and realignment to 60m.
ROBs(Rail Over Bridge) / RUBs(Rail Under Bridge):
The procedure for GAD (General Arrangement Drawing) approved by Railways for ROBs has been simplified and made online. Maintenance charges which were hampering the progress of many projects, stand waived by Railways. Standard design have been put on website.
Financial initiatives
- Loan secured to the extent of termination payment.
- Infrastructure debt fund – Long term financing at low interest rates
- Rescheduling of premium – Bank Rate+2%.
- 100% exit after 2 years of completion in projects awarded before 2009.
- Fund infusion by NHAI in stalled projects where the physical progress is 50% and the concessionaire is facing shortage of funds.
- NHAI liberally permitting refinance with elongation of repayment period. RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has also issued circular for providing long term debt finance matching the concession period without classifying the exposure as restructured.
