After a long period of inactivity, the National Highways Authority of India has finally awarded a Rs 2,300-crore project to a private bidder for four-laning of the Kaithal- Rajasthan border section on National Highway-152/65.
“We have awarded a project to a private bidder — IRB infrastructure developers limited — after a long wait. Owing to bad financial situation in the markets, private players were not very forthcoming and so last year was particularly bad and most projects were financed by the Government,” said an official in the Ministry of Roads.
“We have awarded the project for four-laning of Kaithal-Rajasthan border section from km 33.250 to 241.580 km in Haryana. It should take about three years,” said the official.
According to officials in the Ministry, the 166-km project will be executed on build, operate, transfer (BOT) toll model on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) pattern. This comes as good news for the sector, which has been suffering from severe delays and financial stress.
The project falls under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) phase IV of the NHAI.
“The estimated project cost of the company is approximately Rs 2,300 crore with construction period of 910 days. The concession period for the same is 27 years,” said the company IRB infrastructure developers limited in a press statement.
With this project, IRB’s construction order book will increase from Rs 8,600 crore to about Rs 10,600 crore, to be executed in the next three to four years. IRB is an integrated infrastructure development and construction company with significant experience in the toll roads and highways sector.