Delhi budget: Infrastructure allocation 20 per cent less than last year’s
In the past two years, the government’s focus has shifted away from roads and bridges to schools and hospitals. This is clear from this year’s allocation to Public Works Department, which is about 20% less than the amount earmarked in last year’s budget. Sources claim this fund is sufficient for ongoing projects, especially since last year’s allocation had to be revised midway after several projects were not accorded clearance. “We have been given what we had asked for. PWD barely took up any new project last year or received clearance for future projects. However, in the anticipation that we may see some projects taking off later this year, we hope to submit revised budget estimates later in the year,” said a senior official. Of the Rs 2,450 crore set aside for infrastructure development, Rs 823 crore has been allocated for roads and bridges. It will be pertinent to point out that PWD has to carry out large-scale repair and redevelopment of roads in the city as the condition of many is utterly abject. The city is likely to see a couple of major infrastructure projects take off finally this year, which include the construction of an underpass at the highly-congested Ashram intersection. This will allow signal-free movement for traffic moving from the Sabz Burz rotary towards Badarpur border. The other project, cleared recently, is a skywalk at ITO, connecting the Pragati Maidan Metro station with the Tilak Marg railway station and various other points at the busy intersection. The construction of a new flyover or underpass, as may be decided later, connecting Mahipalpur with the IGI Airport will also start shortly. The government has separately allocated Rs 150 crore for the completion of Barapullah phase-III, a bridge which will connect Mayur Vihar with Sarai Kale Khan and onward to INA. Kevin Hayes Jersey
India clears the decks for multi-modal transnational connectivity play
India is moving ahead with its plans of accessing transnational multi-modal connectivity. As part of this strategy, the Union cabinet on Monday approved the signing of the Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports (TIR) Convention by the government. The multilateral international transit treaty—Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets—is also referred to as the TIR Convention and functions under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). India will be the 71st signatory to this international transit system, designed to facilitate the seamless movement of goods throughout these countries in Asia and Europe. Interestingly, the two countries which signed TIR before India were Pakistan (2015) and China (2016). Hence, India’s participation in TIR may also facilitate trade with its eastern and western neighbours. Viewed along with the Indian Railways’s plan of setting up a Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) route presented last week, these intermodal regional connectivity plays succinctly articulate India’s role in the proposed transportation architecture in the region and beyond. This comes against the backdrop of China’s ambitious “One Belt One Road” initiative aimed at connecting some 60 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe to boost trade and economic ties on the lines of the traditional maritime route. “(The TIR Convention) is to improve the international connectivity and movement of cargo across the countries in the multi-modal format. Goods can go from Mumbai or Kandla Port to Iran. From Iran they can go via rail or road to Central Asia or Europe,” a senior government official said, requesting anonymity. In response to Mint’s specific query on TIR Convention facilitating India’s trade relationship with Pakistan and China, a UNECE spokesperson declined to comment. “With regard to your specific questions, they mainly relate to issues subject to national law or bilateral or regional regulations. Therefore, the UNECE secretariat, which serves to facilitate the administration of the TIR Convention, is not in a position to provide you with specific answers,” the UNECE spokesperson said in an emailed response. The initiative comes at a time when India’s willingness to attend a meeting of Indus Water commissioners in Lahore later this month is being viewed as an indication that the two countries were ready to start re-engaging after a year of acrimony. The TIR Convention will help India move goods along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)—an ambitious multi-modal transportation established in 2000 by Iran, Russia and India to promote transportation cooperation. INSTC is to connect the India Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea through Iran and then onwards to St. Petersburg and northern Europe through Russia. To make the TAR route of Dhaka-Kolkata-Delhi-Amritsar-Lahore-Islamabad-Zahedaan-Tehran-Istanbul operational, a meeting of the chief executives of the railways of Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey and India is to be held this month in India. “By joining the convention, the need for inspection of goods at intermediate borders as well as physical escorts en route shall be obviated due to reciprocal recognition of Customs controls. Customs clearance can take place at internal Customs locations thereby avoiding clearances at Border Crossing Points and ports that may often be congested. Movement under the TIR can be allowed by checking only the seals and the external conditions of the load compartment or the container thereby reducing border delays, transport and transaction costs thereby leading to increased competitiveness and growth for the trade and transport sectors,” the government said in a statement on Monday. Experts say that India is laying down the building blocks. “Economic integration is the only way forward. When economic interests converge, other things fall in place. That’s the reason why gas from India was intended to fuel Lahore’s kitchens,” said Saurabh Chandra, a former secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion. India has been promoting a multi-modal transport strategy involving railways, highways and waterways. The government’s intent was articulated by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech last month, where he stressed upon the importance of an effective multi-modal transportation system for a competitive economy. India plans to develop Chabahar port in Iran, which will allow access to landlocked Afghanistan and energy-rich Central Asia through the Jawaharlal Nehru and Kandla ports on India’s west coast. In addition, India has built a 218km-road link connecting Delaram with Zaranj in Afghanistan, which is adjacent to Iran’s border. India has also been instrumental in the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, along with the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement. “The idea behind the TIR concept is easy and quick movement of cargo,” said another government official, who also declined to be named. Bobby McCain Womens Jersey
Karnataka may build new city to decongest Bengaluru
Call it an over-ambitious or non-implementable project, the Karnataka government is thinking of developing a new city in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) to decongest Bengaluru. The plan is to relocate at least 20 lakh of the state capital’s population to the new city. Urban development minister R Roshan Baig told reporters on Tuesday that the city will be developed on 11,000 acres of abandoned mining land in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), around 100 km from Bengaluru. To meet the drinking water needs of the city, desalination plants will be set up and sea water from Mangaluru will be brought to KGF through Yettinahole project pipelines. This is on the lines of the Tamil Nadu government’s proposed desalination plants to cater to the drinking water requirements of Chennai city. The neighbouring state has proposed to set up Minjur desalination plant and Nammeli desalination plant at a cost of Rs 515 crore and Rs 871 crore respectively. Global tenders will be called for designing the city. It will be developed by launching a special purpose vehicle by roping in private investors. The cost will be known only after a detailed project report is prepared by a global agency, he added. Over the last 15 years, the Centre has been planning to revive a cluster of colonial-era gold mines as there were reports that deposits worth Rs 14,000 crore are left. The government’s move has come as a surprise for those within the government and also activists who have been fighting for its revival. Baig said the state decided to develop a new city after all efforts to revive the mines went in vain. He said the Centre has agreed to hand over the land and the assets of the Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML), a public enterprise that shut down in 2001. The BGML closed down as the gold ore reserves got exhausted after 150 years of continuous and heavy extraction. Speculations were rife earlier that there’s a possibility of KGF turning into Bengaluru’s next landfill. On January 31 last year, a daylong bandh was observed in KGF to protest any such possible moves. The Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) had reportedly put forward the option of dumping Bengaluru’s trash near Marikuppam in Bangarpet taluk of Kolar district. Karnataka has also proposed four desalination plants at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore. These plants will be established in Udupi (Rs 735.30 crore), Mangaluru (Rs 2,533.61 crore), Saligrama (Rs 76.71 crore) and Kundapura ( Rs 154.42 crore) with the joint venture of Israel-based IDE and Vagas of Indian firm. This apart, six clusters, including Devenahalli, Doddaballapur, Harohalli, Dobbespet and Bidadi around Bengaluru will be developed as satellite towns. Baig said the work on Devanahalli is expected to be taken up soon by taking a loan of Rs 400 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) though the estimated cost of developing the town would be Rs 2,800 crore. A proposal for developing the town will be placed before the Cabinet soon, he added. Hayes Pullard Womens Jersey
India may make local steel use mandatory in govt infra projects
India may soon mandate the use of local steel in government infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, sources said, pitching it as a WTO-compliant protectionist measure aimed at further cutting cheap imports, mainly from China. The government expects the move to boost sales of local companies such as JSW Steel and Tata Steel, and eventually attract global steelmakers such as ArcelorMittal and POSCO to invest in the country, five steel ministry sources told Reuters. India, the world’s third largest steel consumer, has budgeted a record $59 billion for 2017/18 for steel-intensive infrastructure projects such as ports, roads, railways and power. “The preference in procurement will enhance demand and thus production. Definitely it is ‘Make in Steel’ and thus ‘Make in India’,” Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh told Reuters. “It is preference with no compromise on quality and competitive pricing. To use domestic produce is an acceptable norm.” Analysts said a similar proposal by US President Donald Trump requiring the use of domestic steel to build two energy pipeline projects could violate international trade laws, but Indian officials say their plan will fall within WTO rules. A government document on the proposal, seen by Reuters, cites an article under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of the World Trade Organisation, allowing an exception to “procurement by governmental agencies of products purchased for governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial resale or with a view to use in the production of goods for commercial sale”. Abhijit Das, head of the New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for WTO Studies, said the provision had been invoked by the United States in the past and India could do the same. The protectionist move would, however, shrink foreign companies’ sales in the world’s fastest growing steel market. Japan has already threatened to take India to the WTO over some recent steel restrictions. Boost production, cut imports India wants to nearly triple its production capacity by the next decade and acquire technology to produce higher value products including automotive steel. “Current level of capacity utilisation of domestic steel producers is below 80 per cent,” said Sanak Mishra, secretary-general of the Indian Steel Association in New Delhi. “If demand picks up on account of increased government spending on infrastructure and government mandates the use of domestic steel in such projects, the domestic steel producers are fully capable of raising the production level.” The proposal to use local steel, which will not be applicable to smaller projects, will be taken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in a month, two of the sources said. Modi, under pressure to create millions of jobs, wants steel to contribute heavily to the government’s target of raising the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25 per cent by 2022 from 17 per cent now, according to a steel ministry document seen by Reuters. “In the absence of domestic capacity, India would have to largely rely on China for its steel requirement since it is the only country with adequate surplus capacity to meet India’s requirement,” said the document. “For a strategic product like steel which has uses in defence and infrastructure sector, this is a worrying proposition.” Debt burdens Most Indian steel companies are so saddled with debt, however, that large-scale expansions will be difficult, analysts say. The steel industry contributes 29 per cent of overall banking sector bad debt of around $135 billion, according to government data. Most companies have reported losses as prices fell after imports into India more than doubled to 13 million tonnes in 2015/16 from the levels of 2013/14. China contributed to more than a third of the imports. Following some restrictions on imports, April-to-January shipments into India fell a third to around 6 million tonnes. “The steel ministry has found an innovative way of clearing the bad debt by ensuring procurement,” said one of the sources. “When we say we will give preference to Indian steelmakers, the fence-sitters (among foreign steelmakers) will gear up to start investing in India.” Global companies including POSCO have made multiple field visits over the past few months but have not committed to any new projects in India. Steel ministry officials have also unsuccessfully courted Hyundai Steel, including offering them a strategic stake in SAIL’s money-losing units, over the past months. POSCO and Hyundai Steel declined to comment about their India investment plans. Su’a Cravens Authentic Jersey
Around 12%work on expressway underpasses completed, DC reviews progress
Around 12% of the work on the three underpasses on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway has been completed in the last two months. One side of the flyover at Hero Honda chowk will be completed by March 31 and will become operational by the first week of April. The dates were announced in a review meeting chaired by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Hardeep Singh, who inspected the project sites on Saturday along with National Highways Authority (NHAI) officials. The Delhi to Jaipur side of the much-awaited flyover at Hero Honda Chowk on Delhi-Gurgaon expressway is likely to open in the beginning of April, reducing the traffic load on the expressway. The 1.4km-long flyover is being constructed as part of three-layer crossing — flyover, underpass and at grade road. Work on the underpass at the junction is also on the fast track. As far as the work of the underpasses at the three junctions — Iffco Chowk, Signature Tower Chowk and Rajiv Chowk — is concerned, it was informed at the meeting that in the last two months about 12% work has been completed. The total cost of this project is Rs 1,005 crore and the likely date of completion is March 2019. But the NHAI is aiming to complete the project ahead of schedule — by the end of 2018. At Rajiv Chowk, the construction of a two-lane underpass on either side for signal-free traffic movement via Sohna-Gurgaon Road is underway. A two-lane underpass for traffic coming from Medanta Hospital towards Delhi and an underpass rotary for non-motorised vehicles and pedestrians across the NH-8, connecting all four arms of the main junction are also progressing. The NHAI authorities said the parking area near Rajiv Chowk will be handed over to public works department in about 20 days and the PWD will carry out the pavement work. This will help in keeping the dust from flying and bring down the pollution level. Singh assured the highway authorities that all help will be accorded to them to ensure that the project is completed within the stipulated time as these underpasses are crucial for decongesting the city.
26,815 KM OF RURAL ROADS LAID THIS YEAR: GOVT
A total of 6,372 rural roads measuring 26,815 km had been laid in Chhattisgarh so far involving an expenditure of Rs 7,880 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the current financial year so far. This was informed by officials at a meeting of the State-level Permanent Committee of the Chhattisgarh Rural Roads Development Authority chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand at the Mantrlaya on Saturday. A total of 6697 rural roads had been approved by the Central Government measuring 29,562 kms under PMGSY. A total of 105 new roads would be constructed in various districts of Chhattisgarh under batch-II of the project work under PPMGSY, officials informed. It may be recalled that the worst insurgency infested districts of Chhattisgarh would be able to further provide a boost to rural road connectivity work with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely “Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas”. The project is aimed at improving the rural road connectivity in the worst LWE affected districts from security angle, officials informed. The project will be implemented as a vertical under PMGSY to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts in the country, critical from security and communication point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of all weather conditions. Under the project, construction/upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore in the above district. The fund sharing pattern of LWE road project will be same as that of PMGSY i.e. in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10. The Union Ministry of Finance will have to allocate to Union Ministry of Rural Development Rs 7,034.72 crore for this project during the period of implementation 2016-17 to 2019-20. The Union Ministry of Rural Development will be the sponsoring Ministry as well as the implementing Ministry of this project. The likely duration of implementation of the project is four years from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The “Road Connectivity Project for LWE Affected Areas” is envisaged in LWE States including the 35 worst affected LWE districts which account for 90% of total LWE violence in the country and 9 adjoining districts critical from security angle as per the inputs and lists of roads / districts provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgradation of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs) that are critical from the security point of view. Bridges up to a span of 100 meters, critical from security angle would also be funded on these roads. Notably, a total of 16 construction works of 698 kms of roads in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas are under construction in Chhattisgarh, officials informed. The input cost of these roads is Rs 928 crore . Roads up to a length of 435 kms had already been laid in the insurgency infested districts, they informed. A total of 5894 kilometers of roads will be laid, 223 buildings will be constructed and 144 bridges and railway overhead bridges will be built in the entire State during the next 18 months, they informed. Roads measuring up to 1322 kilometers had been laid, construction of 49 buildings and 23 bridges had been completed till date. The Government is also targetting to lay 1526 kilometers of State Highways roads worth Rs 10,171 crore till March 2018. Twenty-eight developmental works relating to the roads had already been sanctioned. Roads measuring up to 253 kilometers had already been laid till date. Eighteen developmental works relating to laying of roads worth Rs 1965 crore with the financial aid of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had already been in the pipeline. There is a proposal to construct 233 State Government buildings with a sanctioned of Rs 1349 crore. Forty-nine buildings had already been constructed. Bridges and railway over-bridges (144) worth Rs 1050 crore had been sanctioned. Twenty-three bridges had been completed by now. Chief Minister Raman Singh had recently asked the Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) officials to lay a network of 808 kilometers roads at a cost of Rs 2179 crore in another 18 months time. He directed officials to complete the laying of roads by May 2018, officials informed. The Chief Minister also laid stress on completing the rural road connectivity projects so that the villagers can have smooth all-weather transport in the years to come. Singh was reviewing the road development projects recently at the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur. During the meeting, the Chief Minister ordered the inclusion of Dhamdha- Gandai- Salhetekri in Rajnandgaon district in the ongoing roads’ network project. The 39-kilometer road will be laid at a cost of Rs 120 crore. The officers gave a detailed presentation of the roads project being laid in the State. The Chhattisgarh Government has set 2018 deadline to complete construction of an additional 3,000 kms of road network with an investment of USD 2.34 billion. This is based on the basis of an Annuity/BOT/Loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), official sources informed. Notably, ADB had also been helping Chhattisgarh government upgrade about 916 kilometers of roads in the State. The works include development of new road sections, two laning work, constructing and strengthening culverts and bridges, officials stated. Notably, new stretches of rural roads are rapidly coming up in Chhattisgarh with massive funding support from ADB, officials stated. The ADB has provided lending support to Chhattisgarh for projects undertaken under PMGSY. The international funding agency had been helping to either construct or upgrade 31,000 kms of rural roads in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradsh, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam
NHAI yet to set fresh deadline as investors sweat over NPR fate
In April 2011, construction for the much hyped Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) road project started and it was supposed to completed in a year, by March, 2012. However, it has missed several deadlines since and in April 2017, the project will have completed seven long years since being commissioned by the Huda (Haryana urban development authority). Now, with the project having changed hands and the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) being assigned the task of taking it forward, there’s new hopes of it finally coming to fruition. While the Huda failed to get it off the ground, all eyes are now on the NHAI to bring the project to fruition. However, the NHAI is yet to set a fresh deadline for the project. “The NHAI has taken over the project. While the entire expressway will span 27 km, the Gurgaon stretch will cover 18 km. The enitire stretch is proposed to be open to commuters at once. We will soon set a fresh deadline for the project,” AK Sharma, project director, NHAI, said, adding that the all issues regarding land acquisition and rehabilitation of displaced people have to be resolved by the Huda at the earliest. Of the 18 km Gurgaon stretch of the Dwarka Expressway project, the bituminous work over 15 km is complete and the remaining 3 km covering the New Palam Vihar and Kherki Daula stretch is still ongoing. For the investors who have pumped crores into the project, the six-year wait for the project to see the light of day could be prolonged for another two years or more. “The Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) or Dwarka Expressway project could have been completed long back had the Huda and successive Haryana government taken it forward on a priority basis,” a developer associated with the project said, adding that even after the NPR is ready to be thrown open to the commuting public, it could take another few years for the required infrastructure to be put in place. The oustees, who weren’t considered for rehabilitation by the Huda, has set their hopes of relief on the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Responding to an earlier petition, the high court had directed the Huda to consider all oustees, including the general power of attorney and special power of attorney holders, for rehabilitation. However, the oustees who were left out of the plot draw, later moved a fresh plea against the Huda claiming it violated the court’s directive. “The delay has caused irreparable loss to investors. However, we still have hope that the project will be a reality some day. I believe more than 100 residential and commercial projects have been delayed due to litigations regarding the NPR project,” Captain Sameer Singh, an investor, said. None of the displaced 600 families have got alternative plots as yet. “I filed a contempt petition against the Huda for not considering be eligible for the rehabilitation package. They left me out as I am a GPA holder. The court will hear my petition on February 28,” Ram Babu Sharma, a plot owner at New Palam Vihar, said. According to plot owners, the majority of plots mired in litigation was sold by brokers on the general or special power of attorney (GPA-SPA) much before the Huda issued acquisition notices. “Gopal Subramanium, former Solicitor General of India who represented the Haryana government in 2010, had said that all petitioners shall be rehabilitated. However, despite the assurance, the Haryana government has continued to drag its feet on the issue,” Rajkumar, another plot owner, said. While many GPA-SPA holders built their houses, many plots by these holders continue to be vacant. “The government should resolve the issue at the earliest. The investors will be relieved and infrastructure will get a massive boost,”Navin Raheja, a member of the National Realty Development Council (NRDC), said. All eyes are now on a court hearing on a Huda plea on March 16. “While work on 15 km of the Gurgaon stretch is complete, the remaining stretch is caught up in litigation. We’re trying to resolve the rehabilitation issue,” Yashpal Yadav, the Huda administrator, said. DeAndre Hopkins Jersey
Niti Aayog wants chief in NHAI to monitor projects
In a throwback to the Planning Commission era when its secretary used to be an integral part of the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) board, the Niti Aayog has proposed to the PMO that its CEO Amitabh Kant be inducted in the authority’s board. The step will help fast track clearances to highway projects at a time when the Centre is struggling to meet the current construction rate target of highways of 40 km per day. Significantly, it is for the first time since the Planning Commission made way for Niti Aayog that a proposal bearing testament to the olden era has been mooted in the NDA regime. The move which has been jointly mooted by the government think tank in tandem with the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), is aimed at empowering the NHAI board to clear all highway projects on its own, instead of taking the prevailing long winding route of seeking clearances from MoRTH and the finance ministry, prior to sending them for Cabinet approval. With Niti Aayog being the PMO’s policy arm, presence of its CEO in NHAI board will strengthen it further to clear projects. Highly placed sources confirmed to this newspaper that during the Planning Commission era, the plan panel’s secretary used to be a part of the NHAI board and as the plan body’s status was equivalent to the Union Cabinet, the presence of its secretary on the authority’s board helped in expediting clearances to highway projects. Sources further informed that Mr Kant’s presence in NHAI’s board will, just like earlier times, not only help in cutting short the process of appraising highway projects, but will also empower the board to clear projects of smaller as well as higher values on its own and send them for Cabinet approval, thus saving valuable time. At present, the NHAI board proposes a highway project, and if its less than worth Rs 1,000 crore, then MoRTH itself clears and sends it for Cabinet approval. However, if the project is more than Rs 1,000 crore in value, then MoRTH forwards it to the finance ministry where the expenditure department scrutinises it and after multiple layers of scrutiny and whetting, it is sent for Cabinet approval, thus taking a lot of time in the process. While MoRTH has set for itself an ambitious target of constructing 40 km of highway stretches on a daily basis, it is being felt that owing to the long process of clearing projects, the target is a bit too steep and in actuality only around 20 km of roads per day are being constructed. The NHAI board consists of seven full time members including the chairman, while there are four part-time members, thus making it an 11-member board. Mr Kant will be the 12th member of the board. MacKenzie Weegar Jersey
Infrastructure in India: Completion of projects is behind targets, says Jefferies
Awarding pace remains sluggish with 8% y-o-y drop in NHAI awards in 9MFY17. Lack of land possession has been sighted as the reason behind bid postponement and consequent delays in awards. Hybrid annuity model is facing challenges in financial closure for new players and leading to cancellation of awarded projects. However, completion rate remains robust with NHAI reporting 26% y-o-y growth in 9MFY17. Awarding activity from both National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has been lower in FY17 vs FY16. Hence the full year targets, which always seemed over-optimistic, will be missed by a large margin. Based on our channel checks, we believe that NHAI and MoRTH has awarded 3,200kms and 3,100kms respectively till mid-February. Execution has maintained pace, continuing the improvement in activity seen in the post-monsoon period. NHAI completion rate has improved by 26% y-o-y from 1,355kms in 9MFY16 to 1,704kms in 9MFY17. Monthly data on MoRTH is not available but channel checks suggest that there has been negligible impact of demonetisation on execution. In 7MFY17, overall (NHAI+MoRTH) completion had improved to 3,591kms (up 24% YoY) vs 2,892kms last year, implying a run-rate of 17km per day. But this still remains well shy of the 41km per day target. Aaron Rodgers Authentic Jersey
Infrastructure: Narendra Modi’s pet mega highway projects make little progress; land acquisition, protests, cash crunch blamed
Most of the mega highway projects for which foundation stones have been laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since August 2014 have made little or no progress due to a variety of reasons including problems of land acquisition, utility shifting, “protests by villagers” and cash crunch faced by contractors. PM Modi has laid foundation stones for 11 highway projects, most of them in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) category, where the government would fund the projects entirely. Although EPC projects face no fund constraint, unlike public-private partnership (PPP) projects, the huge slippages even in these projects reflect poorly on the efficiency of implementation. As reported by FE earlier, about 18 km of highways are built in the country every day now, against the target of 41 km a day set by the government. According to a presentation made by the road ministry to the Prime Minister’s Office recently at the latter’s instance, only two of the 11 projects launched by Modi are on track. Not a single kilometre has been developed in the four-laning project of the 125-km Patna-Buxar stretch in Bihar — the ground-breaking ceremony for which was on August 18, 2015 — as the appointment of concessionaires, selected via competitive bidding, got delayed. The project was divided into three stretches by the National Highways Authority of India to improve viability but local protests against land acquisition too played spoilsport. In two other projects as well — the Patna-Gaya-Dhobi section of NH-83 (100 km) and Port-connectivity Highway Project (18 km) — for which foundation stones were laid in August 2014 and August 2015, respectively, by Modi — there has been little progress. While only 1% physical progress against the target of 41% (for January 2017) has been achieved in the first project, in the second one, no physical progress could be achieved while the target was to complete 21% by now. The ministry attributed the delay in both these projects to slow mobilisation of resources by the civil contractor. Of the four other projects running slow, two are in PM Modi’s own Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi. The physical progress of the four-laning of the 17-km Babatpur-Varanasi section of NH-56 and of the Varanasi bypass is lagging behind the target due to protest from local villagers even as land acquisition has been completed. The progress has also been slow in the case of the 100-km Solapur-Maharashtra/ Karnataka border project, awarded in the build operator transfer (toll) mode. Construction has been tardy on the stretch, which is among the major high-density traffic corridors in the country, connecting northern and western India with the southern India, ministry sources said, adding that just 11 km could be constructed in the last six months. Construction of the four-lane Pardi Naka flyover in Nagpur has been just 3%. With banks reluctant to shed their wariness in funding PPP projects in the sector, the government launched the hybrid annuity model, touted as a solution to the lack of equity funds in the sector, but even this has not been a runaway success. Banks are worried that equity contribution of developers in these projects — where the government’s bears 40% of the project cost — is too low, at less than 10%. However, two projects are on track — six-laning of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Sources said Modi has asked the highway ministry to speed up the projects as otherwise he would refrain from laying foundation stones for any new project.