NHAI gears up to achieve record 10,000 Km

The average length of road projects awarded in last 5 years by NHAI was 2,860 Km with 4,335 Km awarded in FY 2016-17. NHAI is all set to achieve a quantum jump in award of road projects in FY 2017-18. Rising to the target set to it by Hon’ble Minister, Nitin Gadkari for award of 10,000 Km., NHAI had already invited bids in a length of 10,460 Km. costing nearly Rs.1,75,000 Crore till January, 2018 and targeting further to invite bids in another 1,000Km. within 15 days. The projects in a length of nearly 2,700 Km. costing Rs 43,000 Crore had already been awarded. NHAI has planned to award 3,300 Km. in Feb. and 5,000 Km. in March, 2018 subject to a good response in bidding and cooperation from State Governments in land acquisition and project clearances.

The projects awarded and likely to be awarded by March, 2018 cover 1,900 Km. in Maharashtra; 1150 Km. in Rajasthan; 1,020 Km. in Uttar Pradesh; 880 Km. in Odisha; 745 Km. in Andhra Pradesh; 740 Km. in Madhya Pradesh; 650 Km. in Gujarat; 620 Km. in Karnataka; 570 Km. in Tamilnadu; 500 Km. in Bihar; 430 Km. in Jharkhand; 365 Km. in Telangana; 350 Km. in Haryana; 280 Km. in West Bengal; 270 Km. in Chattisgarh; and balance in other states (150 Km.in Punjab; 150 Km. in Himachal Pradesh;140 Km. in Delhi, 120 Km. in Kerala; 100 Km. in J&K). With the above jump in awards, NHAI is set to give a good beginning for ambitious “Bharatmala Pariyojana” approved by the Government recently in Oct., 2017, which is to be implemented with a very stiff target of 5 years (2017-18 to 2021-22). To ensure that the targets are achieved, NHAI had set up a robust monitoring mechanism. NHAI has sent the officers from HQ to visit the project sites of critical projects and meet officers of State Governments (District Collectors and Land Acquisition Officers) for expediting land acquisition and project clearances. It has also recruited a large number of retired revenue officials at the field levels. NHAI is also ramping up the pace of construction. In FY 2017-18, NHAI is set to complete construction in a length of 3,500 Km. against the average in last 5 years of 2,170 Km. To maintain the pace of construction, NHAI had commenced the works on 27 new projects (covering 1,330 Km) and will commence the work soon on another 50 projects (covering 3,000 Km). The banks/ financial institutions are now showing keen interest in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and financing of HAM projects is now happening smoothly. Overall the highway sector has picked up the required momentum for timely implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana.