Expressing commitment to augment the country's infrastructure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday proposed to significantly enhance capital expenditure to Rs 5.54 lakh crore in the next fiscal, besides creating institutional structures and giving a big thrust to monetizing assets to achieve the goals of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). Sitharaman said NIP, that was launched in December 2019 with 6,835 projects, has now been expanded to 7,400 projects and around 217 projects worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore under some key infrastructure ministries have been completed. "For 2021-22, I propose a sharp increase in capital expenditure and thus have provided Rs 5.54 lakh crores which is 34.5% more than the BE of 2020-21," the finance minister said.
Over the years, NHAI's expenses have spiraled due to sharp increase in land acquisition costs, while budgetary support has shrunk, leading it to fall back on internal resources and market borrowings
Senior government officials said the company would be allowed a harmonious exit.
NHAI has already initiated process to handle such emergency situation and also taking all possible measures to avoid such incidents in future, an official statement said on Sunday.
NHAI to pay only Rs 175-200 cr as it takes over from concessionaire
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
World Bank customarily withdraws fund for a project that has not been built in seven years.
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.
Few big ticket road projects will be fast-tracked soon.
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The Centre's ambitious Rs 6-trillion National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) could fall short of yearly targets for the current fiscal year (FY22) and the next one as well (FY23), partly due to the long gestation period in monetising big-ticket railway infrastructure, Business Standard has learnt from sources in the finance and rail ministries. Officials say the major chunk of railway monetisation will happen from FY24 onwards because leasing some of the infrastructure, like stadiums and dedicated freight corridor, will not happen anytime soon. Rail infra is expected to be the second-biggest contributor to the NMP, with about Rs 1.52 trillion worth of assets to be monetised.
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 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.
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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 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.
GST rate for petrol and diesel cars and hybrid vehicles is already at the highest bracket of 28 per cent plus cess.
Geo-fencing to map vehicle route; pilot run expected on Delhi-Mumbai highway
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.
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
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.
Plans to offer up to 10% of project cost as bonus to highway contractors, compared to 5% at present
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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.
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.
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.
Will be given choice of govt and privately funded modes to put highway projects that didn't get bids under PPP model.
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.
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
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.
RInfra, which is sitting on a debt of over Rs 6,000 crore, has been working towards monetising its assets to reduce debt.
NH-925 is India's first national highway to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.
Over 93% of the orders in the year came from the central and state governments, PSUs, and NHAI.
