After the Planning Commission rejected its financing plan for the second time, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is preparing a new draft plan. The earlier proposals were rejected citing that NHAI would find it difficult to borrow funds from the market.
The NHAI board is considering a proposal to give 40 per cent of the annuity payment to the contractors upfront and the remaining amount later in instalments.
Section 54EC bonds give positive returns, despite a lock-in and tax on interest income.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
The CBI had registered a case against the four for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy and engaging in corrupt practices in the award of contract.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been told to work on awarding contracts for around 100 projects, covering 11,151 km, over the financial year starting April 1.
NHAI expected to be debt-free by 2030-31 and added the authority, which raised about Rs 14 billion (Rs 1,400 crore) in 2009-10 through capital gains tax exemption bonds, planned to mobilise Rs 40 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) in the current financial year.
NHAI had earlier planned to go for private placement in order to raise funds faster but later decided to go in for the public issue due to the prevailing interest rate scenario.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Patna on Saturday sentenced life-imprisonment to three men, convicted of murdering Satyendra Dubey, a National Highway Authority of India engineer, on November 27, 2003.
At present, Road Secretary R S Gujral is handling the additional charge of NHAI chairman, the position which has been vacated by Brijeshwar Singh, for three months.
Industry players, who do not want to come on record, say this state of affairs is hampering NHAI's functioning.
The highway authority's annual toll earning for 2009-10 was in the range of Rs 1,700 crore (Rs 17 billion) from 141 public-funded toll plazas in the country.
For the current financial year, NHAI will receive Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) as its share of road cess and its annuity payments are in the same range.
The year also saw the government allowing company bidding for a road project to hold up to 25 per cent stake in a firm bidding for another project from 5 per cent earlier.
At a time when some institutions have been dithering over lending to the National Highways Authority of India, doubting its financial strength, the agency is in talks with the country's largest lender, State Bank of India, to borrow up to Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) at 8-8.5 per cent.
The projects include six-laning of highway stretches in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, four-laning of highway stretches in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and two-laning with paved shoulders of stretches in Punjab and Rajasthan.
The abduction of a 50-year-old engineer in Kokrajhar district, western Assam, by suspected militants belonging to the anti-peace talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland has left the East-West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of India in lurch.
The family of National Highway Authority of India whistleblower Satyendra Dubey, whose murder in 2003 had sparked nationwide outrage, said on Saturday that it was not happy with the sentencing of three people in the case as "real culprits" are yet to be punished.
Three men were on Monday convicted of murdering young NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey who paid with his life after he blew the whistle on corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral project in Bihar.
The government may consider a public-private partnership (PPP) mode for setting up national gas highways to ensure distribution across the country.
The move, if accepted, will help resolve nearly one-third of the 1,200 cases on payments pending in various courts in the country.
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
The Plan panel is against an NHAI proposal to increase the cost allocation of building each four-lane highway by 33 per cent.
The B K Chaturvedi committee set up to recommend ways to implement road projects faster and more efficiently, has recommended that the National Highways Authority of India be given sovereign guarantees on the loans it raises from the market.
"Three projects under the GQ are still to be awarded. The National Highways Authority of India plans awarding the same under the National Highways Development Project phase V," highways regulator sources said. The GQl that falls under NHDP phase I aims to provide direct connectivity between the four metros. Road and Highways Minister T R Baalu said, "Out of 5,846 km of the GQ, 5,713 km has been completed and balance 133 is under implementation."
Currently, roads are only entrusted with the authority which licences them to private developers who cannot provide such roads as security to avail loans from banks and other other institutions. Once the roads are vested with the NHAI, the authority can lease them to the developer who can securitise the property to raise money.
Sathe had suffered multiple injuries on his skull in that incident, but due to his strong will power and passion he cleared the test and started flying again, his cousin said.
According to a survey, of the 190 infrastructure projects facing delays, 70 per cent were delayed due to land acquisition problems. Forty projects by NHAI, 60 being implemented by Indian Railways and 28 power projects are facing difficulties in acquiring land. SLUs would expedite the time taken.
23% increase for Highways: The allocation during the current year to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) has been stepped up by 23 per cent over the 2008-09 (BE).
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
R-Infra quoted Rs 42-crore (Rs 420-million) premium over the bids of rival companies such as GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited, GMR Infrastructure, B Sennaih and C&C, JMC Srei and Sadhbhav, sources told Business Standard.
The National Highways Authority of India on Wednesday said it needs to borrow up to Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) per year for the next 15 years to implement Rs 9 lakh crore (Rs 9 trillion) worth of road projects in the PPP mode till 2031-32.
Besides projects under the NHAI, the government earmarks funds for constructing roads, undertaken by various state government agencies and municipal corporations. Nath will be seeking Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) for this.
The government had planned to complete the bidding process and award the final contract for these projects by December 2008. An official from the National Highway Authority of India said, "Now that PPPAC had given approval to these 21 highway projects, we will be speeding up the bidding process."
An ambitious plan by the National Highways Authority of India to offer 126 road projects worth around Rs 1 lakh crore this year may face serious hurdles owing to a stiff clause introduced in the new Request for Qualification norms that will eliminate many bidders.
National Highways Authority of India is working on a proposal to scrap the 30 to 35 per cent premium on toll charged on highways that bypass cities.
At a time when developing infrastructure remains the government's focus area, about 9,000 km of the sanctioned road projects of 30,000 km under the National Highways Authority of India are stuck in disputes concerning land, forest clearance or other matters.
"Land acquisition is the biggest issue. Now contracts will be awarded if 80 per cent of the land is acquired and is in possession of National Highway Authority of India," minister for road transport and highways Kamal Nath said during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha. On members' complaints regarding 'very high' toll rates in public-private partnership projects, the minister defended the existing rates and said reduced toll would mean less roads.
Rights of toll collection in 96 toll plazas on highways under the National Highways Authority of India will be offered to the private sector.
While seven companies bagged orders worth Rs 42,000 crore, industry experts said most of this new order activity was a spillover, and fresh project finalisation remains weak.
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