INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - OCTOBER 2006
THE MONTH THAT WAS...

CABINET OKAYS RS 41K-CR PLAN FOR SIX-LANING NH

 The government has approved six-laning of 6,500 km of national highways, including 5,700 km of Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), at a cost of Rs 41,210 crore. As of now, these are primarily four-landed highways.

   Of the total cost of Rs 41,210 crore, Rs 35,692 crore will be borne by the private sector and the balance Rs 5,518 crore as viability gap, cost of land acquisition, utility shifting and consultancy to be borne by the government. A decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) here on Thursday.

   Six-laning 5,700 km of GQ and 800 km of other sections of national highways fall under under Phase-V of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).

   “The projects would be taken up on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode following a design-build-finance-operate (DBFO) pattern, with a maximum of 10% viability gap funding,” finance minister P Chidambaram said after the CCEA meeting.