Spanning 555 km, the project was to cost Rs 7,500 cr

GMR Infrastructure has terminated the concession agreement on its Rs 7,500 crore, 555-km highway project connecting Rajasthan and Gujarat, India’s largest. GMR Infrastructure reached the decision after weeks of discussions with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), over getting various statutory clearances for the project.

A Few days after the GMR Group announced its intent to walk out of the 555-km long Kishangarh-Ahmedabad highway, the GVK Group has informed the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that it wishes to exit the 330-km long Shivpuri-Dewas highway in Madhya Pradesh. GVK had promised to pay NHAI a little under R3,000 crore (on an NPV basis, using a 10% annual discount) for the highway it was four-laning, over a period of 30 years — starting with a payment of R190 crore in the first year, the payment was to be escalated by 5% in each subsequent year.

Road widening works saw a large number of trees pulled down on either side of Mettupalayam Road. But, the green cover on the road may be back, if the efforts of the Mettupalayam Road Protection Association pay off.

The association has identified 28 varieties of trees. For 6.5 km from Sanganur Pallam to NGGO Colony, trees will be planted on either side of the road and shrubs will be planted on the median space. The association plans to start the green drive in March this year. It plans to approach the industries on the Mettupalayam Road for support to maintain the trees.

Upset over the failure of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to frame forest clearance norms as directed by the Supreme Court and the resultant delays in road projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planing to take up the matter with the court afresh. The authority’s move comes after it secured a favourable opinion from both the law ministry and the Cabinet secretariat, official sources told FE.

Delays in environmental approvals — usually attributed to the existing policy of linking the same to forest clearances — and procedural issues have affected implementation of national highway projects worth R23,000 crore. This is at a time the Prime Minister’s Office and finance ministry are asking all wings of the government to make concerted efforts to speed up infrastructure projects to accelerate economic growth.

The government is likely to set a stiff target for road transport and highways ministry to get at least 47% investment from the private sector during 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) period for constr

From now, highway development agencies won’t have to apply separately for mining of soil/ earth for such works.

In what could bolster the confidence of lenders in highway projects, they may be given the facility of a charge on the receivables. Currently, the lenders have a lien on the escrow account where the receivables are deposited but they hardly get to exercise the right. From the escrow account, the sovereign dues are paid first, followed by the cost of operation and management and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) premium. The banks are the last to get access to the account and the funds get exhausted before their turn.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister C. P. Joshi on Sunday said the Centre would shortly sanction Rs.4,355 crore for construction of roads of the length of 1,302 km in Rajasthan after its recent decision for development of infrastructure through public-private partnership.

Dedicating three newly-built road underpasses at Vaishali Nagar here to the people, Mr. Joshi said 1,500-km-long roads to be added to the national highways would also be approved for the State, even as the construction of 1,243-km-long roads is in progress at a cost of Rs.10,720 crore.

Faced with an acute shortage in funds affecting the financial closure of some 50 major road projects, Indian highway builders have sought the government’s immediate intervention to allow them to ex

New Delhi By defining “public purpose” very broadly in the relevant legislation, the government will ensure private investors in state-controlled infrastructure projects almost always receive its help in mobilising the land required.

The land Bill vetted by a group of ministers earlier and set to to taken up by the Union Cabinet after Diwali will contain an exhaustive list of 29 infrastructure areas as involving public purpose. This means that the government can acquire land for public-private partnership (PPP) projects in these areas, provided the projects are majority-owned by the government and two-thirds of the land owners give their consent. Such public-purpose PPP projects are also eligible for some concessions from state governments, which could reduce the cost of acquisition.