Road developers hoping for early relief from the government will have to wait longer.

A committee set up under C Rangarajan, chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, is reworking its report on providing such relief, after concerns were raised by  Gajendra Haldea, advisor, Planning Commission.

Last Friday, Haldea raised concerns on the proposed recommendations. The issues in question were the structure of premium rescheduling and the penalty norms, following which the committee sought more clarity from the roads ministry.

The key recommendations of the report include rescheduling the premium that companies owe to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and fixing the interest payment on the deferred amount at 10.75 per cent. In addition, it felt no penalty should be charged on the developers.

Premium here is the amount NHAI concessionaires have to pay for a BoT (Build-Operate-Transfer) project, as the returns are expected to be high. It is usually decided on the basis of estimated future traffic flow at the time of bidding. The term for payment of the premium is usually 20 to 25 years and the amount payable ranges from Rs 3 crore to Rs 680 crore a year. The amount goes up yearly by five per cent, according to existing norms. NHAI is due to receive about Rs 151,000 crore over the next 20-25 years from private developers.

“The report was to be ready early this week. But, following a letter written by Haldea, Rangarajan has decided to study the concerns raised and we can expect final recommendations only in the next 10 days,” said a senior official in the roads ministry. Haldea confirmed he’d commented on the report but declined to disclose details.

The Rangarajan committee was set up this October. This was after a number of road developers threatened to walk out of projects due to the economy’s slowing. They’ve complained about inability to generate adequate revenue for repaying the premium. The committee had also proposed that the companies not be allowed to pay dividend to their parent companies until they cleared their dues to NHAI.

There was also a recommendation to allow private road developers to pay only 25 per cent of the premium they owed NHAI in the first three years. Companies were to raise this to half the amount due after three years. The sum carried forward was to attract an interest rate of 10.75 per cent.

“The trigger point for Haldea to raise the concern seems to be the absence of penalty. He does not want the companies to be given a breather and wants to overrule a cabinet decision which wanted projects to continue. If we do not allow this rescheduling, then we have to go in for re-bids. Given the current environment, we will not get any bidders,” the ministry official added.

The government has already cancelled a plan to award projects on public-private partnership during this financial year and is moving towards government-funded projects. The roads ministry plans to now award 5,000 kilometres this year under the engineering-procurement and construction mode this year, after the developers decided to stay away from bidding.

Source-http://www.business-standard.com

The annual premium payment will increase substantially during later part of the contract period so that NHAI does not lose any revenue that developers had quoted while bagging projects. The policy aims to recover the entire premium amount three years before the contract ends.

The norm will be same for both six-laning and four-laning of projects. Huge reduction in premium payment in the first three years will come as a big relief to developers since they need more capital investment during construction period. Premium is the annual upfront revenue that developers promise to pay to NHAI, which increases by 5% annually during the contract period.

Rangarajan has sent the proposal to departments including Planning Commission, NHAI, highways and finance ministries for feedback latest by Monday.

The recommendations address concerns of both developers and NHAI. While suggesting that there should be no “penalty” on developers for availing this one time dispensation as it was suggested by the finance minister P Chidambaram, the committee has said that beneficiaries can’t make any claims on NHAI for delay in project take off due to non-fulfillment of condition like statutory clearances. There were fears that developers may submit huge claim on NHAI for rising project cost due to delays attributed to non-availability of land, clearances and shifting of utilities.

ITANAGAR: The Union ministry of road transport and highways has approved the construction of 6,418 km of road under Phase A and the Arunachal package of the Special Accelerated Road Development Project-North East (SARDP-NE), minister of state for road transport and highways, Sarvey Sathyanarayana has said.”Of the 10,141 km stretch to be developed under the project, 6,418 km have been approved by the Centre for implementation under Phase A of SARDP-NE and the Arunachal package of roads and highways, while a detailed project report has been sought for the remaining 3,723 km under Phase B of the programme,” the minister explained when questioned by Lok Sabha member Takam Sanjoy, official sources said on Wednesday.

The minister informed that Phase A and the Arunachal package should be completed by March 2017. While conceding that delays in land acquisition, obtaining environment and forest clearance and poor mobilization by contractors have affected timely completion of infrastructure projects in the northeast, the minister assured that non-performing contractors have been debarred from participating in future works.

“The ministry has posted one additional director general for the northeast region at Guwahati, who will be assisted by three chief engineers posted at Guwahati, Agartala and Itanagar, to expedite the formalities before construction,” he added.

KOCHI: This certainly is a dubious record that should make the traffic police squirm: In 2013, one person has been killed every week while trying to cross the city streets. In other words, five pedestrians lost their lives every month in 2013 till November with senior citizens accounting for a majority of the casualties.
The number has gone up despite the police and motor vehicles department (MVD) carrying out regular inspections at various places to reign in speeding and negligent driving.

As per the data available with the police, 59 pedestrians died on the city roads up to November this year compared with 49 deaths in 2012. However, pedestrian deaths were really high in 2011 with 72 citizens losing their lives in road accidents.

This year, in the month of November alone 11 pedestrians died after being hit by vehicles on city roads. According to police, majority of pedestrian deaths occurred on National Highway 47.According to police, despite repeated requests the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not taken any steps to provide zebra crossings for pedestrians on NH. “With pedestrian deaths increasing, we had requested the NHAI and authorities to provide zebra crossings and erect barricades. But there was no response,” said P P Shams, assistant commissioner, traffic west. He added even the road safety council had asked the NHAI to provide zebra lines and erect barricades on the median.

Strikingly, most of the pedestrians killed in accidents this year were aged 50 and above. As per the data, over 30 pedestrians aged 50 and above were killed on city roads this year so far.

“It’s a matter of concern that most those who died in road accidents are aged people. Accidents happen mainly during evening hours. Lack of sufficient light could be a cause as people may not get a clear view of approaching vehicles,” he said. Meanwhile, the NHAI said that zebra crossings alone would not help to address the issue. “Along with zebra crossings, signalling systems should also be provided for pedestrians to cross,” said C T Abraham, project director, NHAI.

Abraham further said that erecting barricades on the median will not be of much use as they are removed by the public periodically at Vyttila Junction.

“In order to enable pedestrians to safely cross roads, foot overbridges are required. The NHAI has already approved five foot overbridges at important junctions, including Vyttila,” said Abraham, adding that the construction of the bridges was likely to start in five or six months.

PUNE: The 34-km Dehu Road-Katraj bypass, linking the outskirts of Pune with Pimpri Chinchwad, has become unsafe for road users.

The traffic branch of the Pune police has identified as many as 20 accident-prone spots on this stretch which is a part of the Pune-Bangalore national highway. A detailed report on the causes of accidents has been drawn up and road-safety measures have been suggested for implementation by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which has constructed the road.

Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Vishwas Pandhare on Monday said at least 110 people have lost their lives on this stretch in the last three years. Besides 110 fatalities, a total of 47 accidents, resulting in serious injuries to people have occurred on the road. “This is the most unsafe stretch of road passing through Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal limits,” Pandhare said.

Traffic branch officials led by police inspector S G Bhambure had conducted a study of the road for nearly three months. It identified the accident-prone spots and causes of accidents. The traffic branch officials had invited NHAI officials to participate in the study. Traffic engineer Pratapsinh Bhosale and traffic policeman Deepak Varse helped them.

Pandhare said the report will be submitted to NHAI officials. “Although the traffic branch has identified the accident-prone spots, an independent road safety audit should be conducted. There should be a system put in place by the NHAI which will continuously monitor road safety measures,” he added.

Among the 110 fatalities, the highest number of deaths were those of two-wheeler riders, followed by pedestrians. The trend was replicated in the number of mishaps with serious injuries. The stretch has just four locations with safe pedestrian crossings.

Some common points identified as causes of accidents are absence of road signages, punctures of road median, absence of street lights, and absence of safe pedestrian crossings. At many places, gravel has been strewn on the left side of the road which makes two-wheeler riders use the right side of their lanes. It puts them in direct conflict with fast-moving vehicles and trucks that use the right side, resulting in accidents. Many locations have no demarcation of service roads and the main road, and medians are broken.

NHAI officials said a team of road safety consultants will conduct a road safety audit for three days. “They have been directed to coordinate with police officials to identify accident-prone locations and submit remedial measures,” an NHAI official said.

As recently as November 3, Subhash Rathod (50), a labourer was killed on the spot and another sustained severe injuries after the motorcycle they were riding crashed into a stationery truck near the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass in Pashan.

On February 12, 2012, two national-level badminton players from the city died in an accident near the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex at Balewadi. Another player, who was in the car, was critically injured. Siddhant Ghorpade and Saurabh Paralikar, both from Kothrud, were killed when their speeding car went off the road and crashed into a tree. Noted classical instrument maker Yusuf Mirajkar was among two persons, who died in an accident on Katraj-Dehu Road bypass on August 17, 2011.

Throbbing with activity

* Eleven years ago the Dehu Road-Katraj bypass was constructed as a four-lane highway to allow heavy vehicles, buses and other vehicles to avoid entering the city. The highway stretch is an important link from Mumbai to Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Belgaum, and Bangalore. Over the past decade, the bypass has become an integral part of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.

* Many commercial establishments, educational institutions, residential schemes have come up along both sides of the bypass. Vehicular and non-motorised traffic like pedestrians, and cyclists have invariably increased. The absence of service roads forces people to make use of the main road.

* The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken up widening of the highway stretch from four lanes to six lanes. Bridges across the river and subways are being built. Road-safety features have been hit because of the ongoing works. The issue was raised by road safety activists at a recent traffic advisory committee meeting organized by the police commissionerate.