Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said his ministry was reviewing a proposal to further ease the exit policy for the sector, as demanded by the highway builders' association and supported strongly by the National Highways Authority of India. “(NHAI) has requested us to review the exit policy. talks are going on and soon, we will take it up for cabinet consideration,” Gadkari said at a press conference. The move comes after NHAI chairman RP Singh wrote to Vijay Chhibber, secretary at the ministry of road transport and highways, a week ago, expressing his concern on the lingering uncertainty over a proposal to allow developers to fully exit completed projects. NHAI had asked that the developers be allowed to exit completely from the projects which were awarded before 2009 and if the policy is implemented at the earliest, then stuck equity in a clutch of deals that private equity funds, corporates and foreign pension funds have either already clinched or are negotiating with incumbent developers could be freed up for future projects. Currently, it is mandatory for developers to hold a minimum of 26% equity in the projects awarded before 2009. Gadkari said the Centre wants to sign deals with states to ensure that pending road projects in various states are brought under fast-track implementation. “There are projects stalled in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. I shall meet the CMs of these states to discuss issues relating to the projects and see that bottlenecks are removed. Without states’ cooperation, the Centre cannot implement highway, roads and port projects. We want to sign support agreements to ensure clarity on the areas of cooperation between the Centre and the states in matters of implementing projects.” FE
