Few big ticket road projects will be fast-tracked soon.
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.
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.
The Centre has accorded top priority for cost-effective, pollution-free transportation modes, such as waterways, which reduce logistic costs and increase road safety. Union minister of roads, highways, ports and shipping Nitin Gadkari speaks to Sanjay Jog about the government's strategy.
Cabinet to take up proposal to extend operation & maintenance contracts from 9 to 29 years
The time taken in land acquisition has been drastically brought down to 12 months from 24 months earlier.
The move, if accepted, will help resolve nearly one-third of the 1,200 cases on payments pending in various courts in the country.
Road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath had said earlier this month after a meeting of an empowered group of ministers that the government wanted to borrow $2 billion.
GST rate for petrol and diesel cars and hybrid vehicles is already at the highest bracket of 28 per cent plus cess.
A farmers' protest against three farm laws of the Centre, which was continuing on a national highway in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district since December 19 last year, has come to an end with the protesters alleging use of force by police.
According to an official statement, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said the 19 other places in the country include Phalodi-Jaisalmer road and Barmer-Jaisalmer road in Rajasthan, Kharagpur-Balasore road in West Bengal, Hashimara-Guwahati road in Assam, Bhuj-Naliya road in Gujarat, Leh/Nyoma area in Assam and on the Jorhat-Baraghat road, among others.
Geo-fencing to map vehicle route; pilot run expected on Delhi-Mumbai highway
The bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi S Dhavan and Justice Shashank Kumar Singh was hearing a PIL filed by an advocate, M P Gupta, alleging that the future of the Golden Quadrilateral Project was in danger.
Bringing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under the single nation-wide GST regime will reduce taxes on these products and increase the revenue of both the Centre and states, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will definitely try to bring petrol and diesel under GST if she gets the support of the state governments, said Gadkari while addressing the Times Now Summit virtually. "In the GST Council, finance ministers of states are also members.
Plans to offer up to 10% of project cost as bonus to highway contractors, compared to 5% at present
In what could be a shot in the arm for the National Highway Development Programme, the National Highway Authority of India is all set to receive a windfall of Rs 471 crore
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
100-day agenda: Commerce ministry pushes for separate logistics department
NH-925 is India's first national highway to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.
This is the first time that highway projects awarded by the NHAI have failed to achieve financial closure.
Corporatisation of NHAI was one of the achievements of the NDA govt.
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
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.
RInfra, which is sitting on a debt of over Rs 6,000 crore, has been working towards monetising its assets to reduce debt.
Will be given choice of govt and privately funded modes to put highway projects that didn't get bids under PPP model.
India was among the top-five economies with the largest general government capital stock level, said, in 2015, an International Monetary Fund report called "Making Public Investment More Efficient". The report fuelled a debate on countries sitting on piles of cash that could be used better. India was believed to have public assets worth $4.5 trillion. The report urged countries to start asset recycling. Six years after the report, Australia's success in asset recycling has turned India into a believer; despite doing averagely in its previous efforts on roads, railways or meeting its divestment targets.
If the BJP doesn't do something quickly, Anurag Thakur and P K Dhumal will be the ones having a quiet last laugh.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been under attack for delays in completion of its road projects as well as for poor corridor management.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has asked ministries, government departments, and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to send a list of assets that can be monetised under the proposed National Monetisation Pipeline. The list will be used for creation of an asset monetisation dashboard, which will keep a track of such assets. The government, meanwhile, has asked CRISIL to prepare a road map for monetising assets of PSUs and government departments.
Over 93% of the orders in the year came from the central and state governments, PSUs, and NHAI.
The Union finance ministry has endorsed the views of Gajendra Haldea, infrastructure advisor to the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, who had objected to recent changes in bidding norms by the National Highways Authority of India.
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.
'Some districts have said that areas which are away from the urban centres and where there have been minimal to zero Covid-19 cases may be exempted from the lockdown and construction activity should be allowed,' said a person in the know.
Modi government's story of five years with regard to equity allocation for PSUs shows that it may have allowed a large part of its resources to be wasted. This is also a worrying reflection of the government's inability to take hard decisions - whether they pertain to privatisation or forcing weak public-sector banks to wind down their operations, says A K Bhattacharya.
The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said monetisation of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) assets is based on the principle of value creation for the government and investors and would bring about a paradigm shift in infrastructure augmentation and maintenance. Chairing the National Workshop with the states/UTs on Asset Monetisation organised by Niti Aayog, the minister sought the collaboration of states for the holistic development of infrastructure. She said India can become a $5 trillion economy, while striking the right balance between fiscal imperatives and socio-economic welfare, through active collaboration between the public and private sector.
This uncaring attitude is primarily based on the fact that road concessionaires still do not see themselves as "service deliverers", says Vinayak Chatterjee.
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