Six months into the financial year 2015-16, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) still has an unutilised budget of over Rs22,000 crore.
With more than 50 per cent of its annual budget of Rs43,000 crore waiting to be used, the MoRTH is all set to give out Government-funded projects on EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) or the hybrid mode, where Government bears 40 per cent of the project cost.
“We are waiting for responses for nine tenders in the coming month under the hybrid mode. We should also be able to start work on the eastern peripheral expressway by the end of this year, which will be a completely Government-funded project,” said the official from MoRTH.
“We are expecting good response as all the basic needs like land acquisition, forest and environmental clearances are taken care of by the Government before the start of the project. The developer would be required to build on time, without facing any obstacles,” he said.
The Ministry has issued tenders for 17 road projects under the hybrid model. Some projects like the Rs7,558 crore worth 135-km-long Eastern peripheral expressway, which will provide signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal, have been decided to be given on EPC basis (engineering, procurement and construction).
Officials in the Ministry say that although the PPP participation has improved when compared to the previous years, it is still not high enough. In the recent past, Road Minister Nitin Gadkari had blamed shortage of contractors for slow participation from developers.
“last year, we managed to award only three PPP (Public Private Partnership) projects, but this year after March we have already awarded nine projects. This is a great feat when compared to the last two years, but still much not as required,” said the official.
last year, the Government awarded projects to a total of 8,000 km and completed 4,000 km. The Government plans to award at least 10,000 km of roads and complete 6,500 km this year. By next year, the Government mulls to take the total awards to 12, 000 kms annually.