27.12.08

Maharashtra pushes PPP in highway infrastructure

In a major infrastructure move, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Maharashtra government have thrown open the whopping Rs 6,000-crore National and State Highway Development and Maintenance Programme to the private sector. A major part of the project is the Rs 3,000 crore four-laning of the 514-km Dhule-Amravati-Nagpur National Highway (NH 6) which has been subdivided into seven works. While the only 50-km stretch on this route between Talegaon and Kondhali and between Amravati and Nagpur has been developed so far, work on stretches between Kondhali to Nagpur and the Akola bypass has not started yet. Some stretches on the national highway where work will begin soon are the 171-km section between Dhule and Jalgaon district border (Gang river) costing Rs 1,026 crore, a 105-km stretch at Gang River, which is estimated at Rs 630 crore, and Akola to Talegaon section where the distance is 134 km with an estimated cost of Rs 837 crore. “Once the Nagpur and Nashik offices of PWD send their reports on the widening of the highway stretches falling within their jurisdictions, the work would gain momentum,’’ said a Mantralaya official. According to sources, the four-laning of the highway stretch between Gang River and Akola has not been approved yet. The second major project to be privatized on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis is the widening of the 301-km Mumbai-Nashik-Dhule national highway (No 3) at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The 118-km stretch of this highway between Pimpalgaon and Dhule has been widened under the project with an expenditure of Rs 519 crore. More than half of the 100-km Wadpe-Gonde stretch is ready for which Rs 575 crore is being spent. The Rs 775-crore work to be undertaken on the most difficult and small 60-km stretch between Gonde and Pimpalgaon is still at the tendering stage. Another 700-km newly carved two-lane state highway between Nagpur (Butibori), Sindkhedraja (Buldhana), Sinnar (Jalna) and Ghoti (Thane) valued at Rs 900 crore is being privatized at a lease of a minimum of 30-40 years. A private party will purchase the halfbuilt highway between Nagpur and Sindkhedraja, construct the rest and recover the cost from toll and a few commercial plots along the highway. Due to a fund crunch, the state has left the project mid-way by spending over Rs 400 crore and now wants to privatize it.

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