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Journalism of Courage
With the awarding of a mere 148 km under National Highways Development Programme V — against the target of 1,500 km — the ambitious project to six lane 6,500 km of national highways is finally taking off. The National Highways Authority of Indiahas awarded another five NHDP V BOT projects — based on model concessionaire agreement (MCA) — across 882 km, which will cost around Rs 10,912 crore. It has also introduced a new revenue sharing model on NHDP V, as per which within 180 days of signing of an agreement the concessionaire widening the highway will start collecting toll and share the revenue with the NHAI.
With these projects, the NHAI has successfully switched over from the negative grant model to the revenue sharing model. In fact, none of the bidders who bagged the projects asked for a negative grant from the NHAI. Instead, they quoted for revenue sharing with the NHAI — ranging from 2 to 48.06 per cent. “Along the Delhi-Jaipur section, the NHAI will have a share of 48 per cent,” said Brahm Dutt, secretary of Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, on Friday.
NHDP V is being implemented on already four-laned stretches, like the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South corridor. These are already being tolled. The new concessionaire, which will six lane these, will take over the tolling process. However, the toll rates will not be increased.
NHAI member, technical, A V Sinha clarified that the right to toll given to the concessionaire, within 180 days when he achieves financial closure, will not compromise on project implementation. “While the NHAI is collecting toll in these sections as of now, once the concessionaire takes over he will take over toll collection as well and share it with the NHAI. There are adequate safeguards in the agreement to ensure that in case the concessionaire defaults, the toll will not be credited to his escrow account. So, at no point are we compromising on project performace in any way.”
Of the 6,500 km to be six-laned under NHDP V, 5,700 km is on GQ and 800 km on other sections. The five NHDP projects awarded under the new MCA are the 43.4 km-long section between Chennai and Tada on NH 5, 225.60 km along Gurgaon-Kotputli section on NH 8, 239 km along Surat-Dahisar section on NH 8, 82.5 km on NH 5 between Chilakaluripet and Vijayawada, 291 km between Panipat and Jalandhar on NH 1. With these, the total length so far awarded under NHDP V is 1,030 km.
These will be designed as partially access-controlled highways, with service lanes on either side and crossover facility every 2-3 km, besides flyovers or grade separators with exit and entry points at major intersections. “The project awarding is good news for the NHAI as four out of the five attracted high FDI — ranging from 10 to 51 per cent from firms like Emirates Trading Agency, Deutsche Bank, IJM Corporation and Isolux Corsan,” added Dutt.
