Road projects covering 10,000 km to be awarded this fiscal: FM

After simplifying procedures for building highways, the government plans to award a total of 10,000 km of road projects by the end of current fiscal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

"All procedures have been simplified. There is an exit policy, there is a hybrid model and so on. Various options of flexibility are there in the sector," he said after the meeting of stakeholders here.

As a result, he added, the government has already awarded 6,800 kilometres of highway projects and by March this figure will go up to 10,000 kilometres.

There are a large number of contractors wanting to execute the projects, he said.

"And with such large projects being awarded I think it's spiral effect on steel, cement, auto sector and all is going to take place" Jaitley said.

The success of highway programmes has taken complete stress out of the banking sector and it will additionally contributing to growth rates, he said.

Talking about the meeting of stakeholders involved in the national highways programme, the Finance Minister said that the government, the financial sector, financial services and the contractors who execute projects are all putting their heads together on how to expedite the matter.

Recalling that the road sector was paralysed when this government took over, the Finance Minister said, "You didn't have a single contractor responding to the tender. And today all major contracts attract multiple contractors bidding".

The government has induced a lot of liquidity in the sector and the banks have started supporting it, he said.

A number of contractors have started repaying old debts, he added.