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Govt to build 30,000 km of highways:Baalu
By agencies
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Thursday, 21 July 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Enthused by the success of public-private partnership (PPP) model in the development of highways, the government is planning to develop an additional 30,000 km of highways under NHDP III at a cost of about Rs 1,720 billion during the next seven years.
"The government now plans to spend about Rs 1,720 bn in the next seven years for a well-planned phase-by-phase development of highways. Under this scheme it is proposed to cover an additional 30,000 kms comprising four-laning of an additional 10,000 kms under NHDP III," Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu said.
Under the same scheme, the government was planning to rehabilitate 20,000 km of the existing two-lane sections spread across various parts of the country under NHDP IV.
"The government has already approved the program for upgrading of 4,000 kms of national highways on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis under NHDP IIIA and has also approved Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) preparation for another 6,000 kms under NHDP IIIB," he said.
He said the Committee of Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister was considering six-laning of 5,000 kms of national highways and construction of 1,000 kms of Expressways under NHDP V and NHDP VI respectively. A length of 6,000 kms has already been developed to four-lane standards in the earlier phases, Baalu said.
The Minister said PPP would be the major plank of the highways development program in which private enterprises would invest money for developing these highways and would get returns through fees collected from the users.