DF govt to spend Rs 3000 cr on road to power
March 3, 2008
Though its four-year rule in Maharashtra is yet to bring a visible change in the state, the Democratic Front (DF) government now wishes to make amends during its final year in office.
For the 2008-09 fiscal, the state will witness large-scale road construction works, senior officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and Public Works Department (PWD) told ET. The two agencies, which have been keeping a low-profile during the DF rule, compared to the 1995-1999 Shiv Sena-BJP government’s period, want to make up for the lost time. “We will have many more projects to showcase before the people,” Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had said earlier.
Road works amounting to more than Rs 3,000 crore have been initiated by these two agencies across the state. All projects are being undertaken on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis and the state agencies are collaborating with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Such is the project’s volume that the PWD, MSRDC and NHAI would upgrade around 900 km of roads across Maharashtra.
“Most of the roads under construction would be completed in a year or so. We are following a strategy of aggressive development in the road sector, which is one of the main drivers of socio-economic growth. Roads not only connect but also bring investment,” PWD secretary DB Deshpande told ET.
The state is using the Rs 2,000-crore grant sanctioned by the Union government to upgrade the corridors of national highways, which pass through Maharashtra. This allocation has to be used in the 2008-2009 fiscal. The work includes six-laning of the 90-km corridor between Dahisar-Talasari on Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway, the 275-km corridor between Satara-Karad-Kagal, which leads to Bangalore, the 86-km stretch between Igatpuri and Pimpalgaon and construction of an elevated 5.5 km long corridor bypassing the Nashik city.
“Maharashtra has always been regarded as the leading state as far as quality of road is concerned. But good roads have utility beyond the obvious connectivity point of view. The World Bank has estimated that an investment of Rs 20 lakh in road works creates one perpetual job.
We are looking at employment generation and economic potential of roads, which would be give an edge to Maharashtra in these industrially competitive times,” an MSRDC official said. Lot of action is also visible on the state highways. The PWD has got Cabinet approval for the Rs 800-crore four-laning of Shirur-Nagar-Pune-Aurangabad state highway, which is 300-km long. “Work has started on this project and should be completed by May 2009,” Mr Deshpande added.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Nine infrastructure firms in customs net
March 3, 2008
Gammon India, Punj Lloyd, Era among those being investigated for diverting tax-exempt equipment for pvt work
The central intelligence unit of Indian customs here has launched a series of cases alleging import duty evasion by nine infrastructure firms, including well-known names in the field such as Punj Lloyd Ltd, Era Constructions (India) Ltd and Gammon India Ltd.
The companies are alleged to have diverted construction machinery, imported without customs duty specifically for projects financed by the United Nations, other international aid organizations and approved by the government, to private projects, thus evading customs duty.
The money involved in the case is not large in itself, but the development is significant since these firms are involved in construction of roads for projects approved by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and aided by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the UN.
Under the Customs Act 1962, equipment imported into India for completion of infrastructure projects financed by the UN or an international organization and approved by the government is exempt from customs duty. The firms had imported machinery, such as piling rigs for construction of roads, and had availed the exemption.
Core of the problem
“We have already booked cases against nine firms and have recovered over Rs12 crore against such illegal import of piling rigs,” said R.K. Mahajan, commissioner (general) of customs, Mumbai.
Apart from Punj Lloyd, Era Constructions and Gammon India, the list of companies provided by the customs includes Afcon Infrastructure Ltd, Ircon International Ltd, Meher Foundation and Civil Engineers Pvt. Ltd, Villayati Ram Mittal Pvt. Ltd (New Delhi), Vijay M Mistry Construction Pvt. Ltd and Maytas Infra Pvt. Ltd.
Each piling rig costs around Rs4 crore and attracts close to Rs1 crore import duty.
“We have also seized piling rigs worth Rs8.25 crore,” Mahajan said. According to him, these companies have evaded customs duty of at least Rs20 crore and the amount could be even more as the investigation is not yet complete.
The infrastructure projects are spread across India. For instance, Punj Lloyd, one of the largest engineering and construction firms engaged in infrastructure projects, had imported piling rigs for its two NHAI-approved projects in Assam, but, according to the customs intelligence unit, these rigs were diverted to New Delhi.
“The company had rented out one of the machines to Delhi Metro Rail Corp. Ltd,” claimed a senior officer of customs who did not wish to be named.
However, the firm admitted it has been “summoned by the central intelligence unit, Mumbai customs, seeking certain clarifications/information pertaining to import of hydraulic operated self-propelled piling rig along with accessories,” imported by it under customs duty exemption scheme.
“Unfortunately, by the time such rig, along with its accessories, touched the boundaries of India it was realized that the said rig etc. could not be optimally utilized at the Guwahati to Nalbari Section of NH31 in Assam project due to non- availability of work… Since the machinery so imported was worth crores of rupees and keeping it idle would not only result in decaying and deterioration but also have an adverse financial impact…the company deemed it prudent to deploy the same to some other appropriate site,” the company wrote in its email.
It admitted that the rig was deployed at the DMRC project “which included construction of roads.” Stating that “by utilizing the…rig at the DMRC project we were in a position to keep the same in running condition,” the company said in its email that the rigs would be used at the Assam project “the moment we receive a green signal…from NHAI.”
“We believe we have acted within the intent and framework of the customs notification and the undertaking and there is no violation of any nature whatsoever and your source on information about the tax evasion on our part is unfounded and baseless,” the email went on to say.
The New Delhi-based Era Constructions, now known as Era Infra Engineering Ltd, was awarded two contracts for construction of roads in Chhattisgarh. However, according to the customs, the machinery was allegedly rerouted to other parts of India. “During the investigation, one of the machines was found at the NTPC Ltd’s site in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The other was found in Haryana,” Mahajan said.
Era Infra’s vice-president (commercial) Anil Bhasin said the firm had paid customs duty and interest for the equipment, which was shifted to other nationally important projects of government and public sector undertakings. According to him, the company diverted a few equipment that were not required at the assigned projects to other sites. It actually wanted to return these equipment, but could not do so as there was no provision to return such equipment. “The customs duty for such equipment was paid,” insisted Bhasin.
Gammon India, a Mumbai-based construction firm, according to Mahajan, has violated the rules by diverting machinery to another location for private use. However, he declined to disclose the location where the equipment was transferred and said the case was under investigation.
Gammon India, too, denied being involved in customs duty evasion. “There may be a possibility that some construction companies who have imported equipment under such exemptions could have utilized the same for projects other than for which such exemptions are applicable like, real estate, housing projects, shopping malls, etc. To clarify your doubts, Gammon does not undertake real estate/housing projects which could have been a potential misuse as per your concern. In fact, central intelligence unit had enquired about the utilization from all the importers who had imported equipment under the above exemptions,” said Umakant Tiwari, assistant general manager (procurement), Gammon India, in an email response.
Source: livemint.com
Impact of Budget 2008 on infrastructure
March 2, 2008
Chennai: The biggest benefit that the latest Budget has conferred on the entire infrastructure sector is the removal of double tax on dividends, says Kuljit Singh, Partner, Ernst & Young.“As infrastructure projects are typically developed through SPVs (special purpose vehicles), removal of double taxation can lead to a saving of at least one level of dividend taxation (in the existing level of 16.995 per cent including surcharge),” he explains in an e-mail interaction with Business Line.“Additionally, at present a large number of developers are looking to set up holding companies for power, highways, ports and so on. The valuation of all of these holding companies would be positively impacted due to this measure,” foresees Kuljit.Another positive from the Budget for infrastructure projects that he mentions is the reduction of duty on project imports from 7.5 per cent to 5.0 per cent. A key negative, however, is the duty structure on cement, which is expected to push up costs, rues Kuljit.While the Union Budget for 2008-09 addressed the needs of various infrastructure requirements including that of social and rural infrastructure, there was not much to offer as tax sops, or for promoting private sector investments, bemoans Vishwas Udgirkar, Executive Director – Government Regulation and Infrastructure Development Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers.“As evident from various reports and documents, the Government is relying on huge investments from the private sector to create infrastructure that can support the overall economic growth,” he reasons. It was expected, therefore, that the Budget would address various issues relating to financing of infrastructure.“On that ground, the Budget has little to offer except the proposed change in the treatment of dividend distribution tax (DDT).” Vishwas concedes, though, that this could be a significant measure to encourage infrastructure financing, welcome by the industry.Another financial measure that he highlights is the exemption of TDS (tax deduction at source) on listed corporate debt instrument, which is expected to help, over the long term, in the development of the debt market.The Budget, however, has not addressed a number of issues like exempting foreign borrowings by infrastructure companies from withholding tax requirements, providing similar capital gain tax treatments for listed and unlisted equity, treating infrastructure holding companies as a separate class of NBFCs (non-banking financial companies), exempting Section 80IA companies from minimum alternative tax (MAT) and re-introducing Section 10(23G), lists Vishwas.Talking of the power sector, among the infrastructure components, Kuljit also finds it upsetting that the Budget has not mentioned the extension of section 80IA tax benefit for power projects.“Non-extension of this tax benefit will have a negative impact on power projects which are being proposed today, as most of these may not be completed before March 31, 2010, which is the last required date for commissioning under the existing 80IA tax provision of the Income Tax Act, 1961.”The national fund proposed for power transmission and distribution (T&D), if properly structured, can be used to strengthen the T&D network at the state level, suggests Kuljit. “Also, the allocation of Rs 5,500 crores for Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyut Yojana will positively impact the state-level networks.”As regards roads and highways, he sees nothing significant in the current Budget, but for an increase of around Rs 2,000 crore being proposed in the NHDP (National Highways Development Project), and an allocation of additional Rs 4,000 crore for rural roads.In the medium to long term, the cut in excise duty from 16 per cent to 12 per cent for small cars may lead to increase in traffic on roads, thus positively impacting toll roads, he anticipates.Vishwas is of the view that the focus on nationwide monitoring of all important programmes is a welcome step, but cautions that such monitoring systems have to be put in place quickly.What about aviation? Despite the fact that airlines (in particular, low-cost airlines) are now increasingly serving the masses, aviation is still perceived as the preserve of the rich and hence the tax policies are structured accordingly, laments Kuljit.“The industry was keenly expecting reduction in sales tax (from the 20 to 30 per cent levels to around 4 per cent) on ATF (aviation turbine fuel) and changes in tax on lease rentals,” he reminds. “However, none of these expectations has been accepted in the Budget, which means that the airline industry’s rough patch may continue.”**Source: http://InterviewsInsights.blogspot.com
Government falls short on its promise to build roads
February 29, 2008
The government has fallen short on its promise to build roads in 2007-08. The Economic Survey revealed that while the flagship Golden Quadrilateral connecting the four metros was 96% complete at this time, only 21% of the north-east and south-west corridors were finished till November 2007. This means the end-2009 completion target for the project is unlikely to be met. The port-connectivity projects, which envisage linking major ports with national highways, are also way behind schedule.
Work under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP)-III has also fared terribly with only 274 km completed by November 2007. The project envisages four and six-laning of 12,109 km of highways on the build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. While the first phase covering 4,815 km was expected to be completed by end-2009, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which spearheads the construction and upgradation, finished only 5.69% of the target.
The NHDP-III is estimated to cost Rs 80,626 crore and 30 contracts covering more than 1,900 km have been given out so far with another 3,000 km to be awarded during the current financial year.
Lackadaisical implementation notwithstanding, highway connectivity among Indian cities, however, remains a priority. The Survey has stressed the need to connect all cities by national highways in the medium term.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Hit the road: Infrastructure growth is revving up
February 29, 2008
The indian infrastructure story is just waiting to unfold. It is a foregone conclusion that the need for infrastructure to facilitate economic growth in India, both immediate and long-term , is ever more pressing. The growth rates witnessed in the Indian economy today are indicative of the change to follow —infrastructure has been expanding at an accelerated pace to support the economic growth rate of 9%. India’s infrastructure development has so far been predominantly financed publicly. The urgent need of the hour is an enhanced approach that would create a balance between public and private sector roles, complemented by transparent public policies. The Government has already taken many proactive measures such as opening up a number of infrastructure sectors to private players , permitting foreign direct investment (FDI) into various sectors, introducing model concession agreements and taking up projects such as the National Maritime Development Programme and National Highway Development Project, among others. The next four to five years will witness implementation of some key infrastructure projects such as additional power generation capacity of 70,000 MW; development of 16 million hectares through irrigation works; modernisation and redevelopment of four metro and 35 non-metro airports; six-laning 6,500 km of Golden Quadrilateral and selected National Highways. Focus will be on key infrastructure sectors of highways, ports, airports, railways and power. Having been part of the Indian infrastructure history, we at GVK have always believed that the key to developing a sustainable infrastructure in India is to build for the future. India will see an investment to the tune of $500 billion in infrastructure in the next five years. Coupled with government support, this investment will fructify in the form of key infrastructure projects to strengthen India’s cities. The next four years will bring a sea change in infrastructure and as a result, in another ten years, we will see the emergence of a new India. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Gammon Infrastructure Projects files DRHP with ROC
February 28, 2008
Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd (GIPL), a subsidiary of Gammon India Ltd, has filed the Red Herring Prospectus with the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra in connection with its ‘Initial Public Offer’ of 1,65,50,000 equity shares of the face value Rs 10/- each, comprising a net issue of 1,48,95,000 equity shares to the public and a reservation of 16,55,000 equity shares for eligible employees.
The IPO is being made on 100% book building route, with the price band being Rs 167/- to Rs 200/-.
The issue will remain open from March 10, 2008 to March 13, 2008.
Gammon Infrastructure Projects Limited (“GIPL”) is an infrastructure project development company promoted by Gammon India Limited, to participate in the development of infrastructure projects on a public private partnership (“PPP”) basis.
GIPL leads Gammon’s forays into development of infrastructure projects on PPP basis across sectors such as Roads & Expressways, Ports, Hydro Power, Urban infrastructure, Airports, Special Economic Zones, Water and Wastewater management, Railways, Power Transmission lines, and Agricultural Infrastructure.
Source: equitybulls.com
LEAD ROLE OF GOVERNMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT TO CONTINUE
February 28, 2008
Economic Survey 2007-08
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF
***
Lead role of Government for Infrastructure Development to Continue
Recognizing the importance of development of adequate infrastructure for sustaining the growth momentum and to ensure inclusiveness of the growth process, the Government will continue to play a lead role in infrastructure development during the Eleventh Plan. The Economic Survey 2007-08 tabled in Parliament today, states that accompanying the recent moderation in industrial growth, the growth performance of some segments of the infrastructure such as power generation and movement of railway freight and also the production of universal intermediates like steel, cement and petroleum have shown a subdued performance during April-December 2007-08 as compared to the corresponding period last year. In the power sector, though the plan capacity addition is unlikely to be achieved, the growth in capacity in the current year is distinctly higher than in the previous years. The movement of cargo handled by major ports and air cargo has showed improved performance as compared to the corresponding period last year. The highly competitive telecom sector has maintained its phenomenal growth, the Survey adds.
With the rapid growth of economy in the recent years, the importance and urgency of removing infrastructure constraints have increased. The Government has made an effort to facilitate the entry of private enterprise into this sector through changes in the legal framework. The Survey mentions that the role of private sector participation has also been facilitated by technological change that allows unbundling of infrastructure so that the public and the private sectors can take up the components according to their capacities.
The Survey states that the recent moderation in the growth in the industrial sector has raised concerns in some quarters about sustainability of high growth of the sector. To deal with the situation emerging from the slow down of some export oriented sectors of relatively low import intensity including textiles, handicrafts, leather etc. the Survey states that the Government took certain measures to tide over the situation in short run. It emphasises that, over the medium term, there is little choice but to improve productivity even if there are issues pertaining to the exchange rate of currencies of competing countries.
During the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the power sector is expected to grow at 9.5 per cent per annum. The Survey mentions that a capacity addition of 78,577 MW has been proposed for the plan period to fulfill the objective of the National Electricity Policy 2005. A number of projects envisaged for the Eleventh Plan have made steady progress and most of these are in a position to be commissioned well within the Plan period. It is expected that the total capacity addition during the current financial year would be 10,821.8 MW with thermal, hydro and nuclear accounting for 8,015 MW, 2,587 MW and 220 MW respectively. The Survey also mentioned that for development of coal based Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) each with a capacity of 4,000 MW or above, project specific shell companies have been set up as wholly owned subsidiaries of the Power Finance Corporation Limited to facilitate tie up of inputs and clearances. The bidding process in respect of Sasan, Mundra and Krishnapatnam UMPPs have been completed. For the development of hydro power potential, the Survey also states that a task force has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister of Power. The task force shall examine and resolve issues relating to hydro power development. To achieve the goal of electrifying all unelectrified villages and hamlets and providing access to the electricity to all households as envisaged under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidhyutikaran Yojana (RGGYY), the Government has approved its continuation during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period. With an initial outlay of Rs. 28,000 crore, about 1.15 lakh unelectrified villages and 2.34 crore rural BPL households have been envisaged to be covered in Phase-1 of the scheme.
The Survey states that improved resource management, through increased wagon load, faster turn around time and a more rational pricing policy has led to a perceptible improvement in the performance of the Railways during 2005-06 and 2006-07. During April-November 2007, the total revenue earning freight traffic grew at 8.2 per cent as compared to 9.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the last year. The Survey mentions that the Indian railways have been taking certain pro-active initiatives in the area of tariff and fare fixations and commercial practices. There has been conscious thrust on bringing in transparency, simplification and making rail tariff competitive to attract more traffic.
In Road sector, the Survey states that 7,962 kilometers of National Highways under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) with the bulk of 5,629 kilometers lying on Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) was completed till
inter-ministerial Committee to appraise and coordinate individual sub-projects under Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the region. An investment of Rs. 3,14,152 crore has been envisaged for the roads and bridges sector during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.
Regarding Civil Aviation Sector, the Survey states that with the liberalization of Indian skies, the airlines market in
During April-October 2007, the cargo handled by major ports registered growth of 13.9 per cent against 9.5 per cent in the corresponding seven months of last year. The Survey states that there was an impressive growth of 13.9 per cent per annum in container traffic during the Five Year ending 2006-07.
The telecom sector continued to register significant growth during the year and has emerged as one of the key sector responsible for
Regarding Urban infrastructure, the Survey states that with the launching of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005-06, the reform process of urban local bodies has begun. There is now a better appreciation at the state level of the importance of developing and sustaining the infrastructure through appropriate user charges. While sanctioning the projects, efforts are made to ensure public-private participation in the areas where it is feasible. An amount of Rs. 2,805 crore has been provided for the year 2007-08 for the Sub-Mission on Urban Infrastructure and Governance. 279 projects have been sanctioned at an approved cost of Rs. 25,287.08 crore for 51 cities out of the listed 63
While sanctioning these projects, highest priority has been accorded to sectors that directly benefit common man and urban poor namely, water supply, sanitation and storm water drainage. 90 projects are expected to be completed by December this year. A total investment of Rs. 3, 35,350 crore have been envisaged by the
Outlining the investment requirement for the infrastructure during Eleventh Five Year Plan period, the Survey states that to achieve the target rate of growth of 9 per cent for the Plan period, an increase of investment from around 5 per cent of GDP in 2006-07 to 9 per cent of GDP by the end of the Plan period is envisaged. The investment in physical infrastructure alone has been estimated to be about Rs. 2,002 thousand crore (at 2006-07 prices). Such a large magnitude of investment during the Plan period would need to be financed through non-debt and debt resources of the order of Rs. 1, 064 thousand crore and Rs. 996 thousand crore respectively. Keeping in view the need for financing infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance constituted a Committee in December 2006 to under the Chairmanship of Shri Deepak Parekh to identify the constraints and suggest measures for financing infrastructure. The Committee in its report submitted in last year has stated that there are macro-economic and institutional constraints in financing infrastructure. To maximize the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the Department of Economic Affairs has taken several major initiatives in the matters concerning PPPs including policy, schemes, programmes and capacity buildings. While encouraging PPPs constraints have been identified and several initiatives have been taken by the Government to create enabling framework for PPPs by addressing issues relating to policy and regulatory environment. To address the financing need of PPPs projects, various steps have been taken such as setting up of the India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) to provide long tenor debt to infrastructure projects and launching of a Scheme for financial support to PPPs in infrastructure to provide Viability Gap Funding to PPPs projects.
The challenges in implementing the infrastructure projects are immense. The Survey states that there is need to develop appropriate mechanism for financing infrastructure, especially the development of a domestic debt market is overarching. It is also important to ensure synergy in the efforts being made to develop different types of infrastructure through effective coordination between different agencies. “These challenges are serious, but they are by no means insurmountable”, the Survey adds.
Source: pib.nic.in
Nagpur Sical Gupta road terminal project launched
February 24, 2008
Country’s leading provider of integrated multi-modal logistics solutions for bulk and containerized cargo and offshorfe logistics, Sical logistics on Sunday launched Nagpur Sical Gupta road terminal at Multi Modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN).
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Vilas Muttemwar and State BJP President Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone of Rs 119.3 crore project. Chairman of Chennai-based Sical, Ashwin Muthiah and Chairman of Gupta Group of Industries, Padmesh Gupta were present on the occasion.
Speaking to reporters Muthiah and Gupta said a special purpose vehicle, Nagpur Sical Gupta Road Terminal (NSGRT), comprising Sical with 51 per cent stake, Maharashtra Airport Development Company 26 per cent and Gupta Coal with 23 per cent stake, will build, operate and manage the road terminal.
Sical MD and Group CEO, Sudhir Rangnekar said road terminal will stretch across 60 hectares of area and have parking facilities for 1150 vehicles including multi axle vehicles and cold storage. It would be completed by January 2009, he added.
NSGRT was formed in April 2007 and agreements were signed in August 2007. Rangekar said Sical was handling 22 mn tonnes of BUL and 5,00,000 teu (twenty euqal units) of containerized cargo.
Sical’s delivery network includes walk-in-berth at Chennai for ships carrying bulk cargo, a container terminal at Tuticorin.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
NHAI awards projects worth Rs 109.12 bn
February 23, 2008
The National Highways Authority of India (Q, N,C,F)* (NHAI) awarded 5 projects, worth Rs 109.12 billion, of six-laning of highways under the National Highway Development Programme Phase-V (NHDP-V), reports Business Standard.
NHAI awarded projects to infrastructure developers, including Larsen & Toubro, Emirates Trading, IRB, Isolux Corsan, and Soma Enterprises among others. These 882 kilometres of sections for six-laning of highways are under the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South Corridor. Under the NHDP-V, 6,500 km of existing four-laned national highways (NHs) have to converted into six-lane highways through a build-operate-transfer (BoT) basis. Of the total length, 5,700 km is on GQ and 800 km on other sections.
The five awarded projects include 43.4 km on the Chennai-Tada stretch on NH-5, 225.6 km on the Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur stretch on NH-8, 239 km on the Surat-Dahisar stretch on NH-8, 291 km on the Panipat-Jalandhar stretch on NH-1.
These are the first batch of projects which have been awarded on a new model concession agreement (MCA) approved by the Committee of Infrastructure recently. The new agreement will work on revenue-sharing model where the private developers will share 17% – 48% of their toll-revenue with the NHAI within 180 days of signing the agreement. Under the old agreement, the NHAI projects were awarded on the bidding parameter of positive or negative grants.
Source: myiris.com
Wilbur Smith appointed consultant for 4-laning
February 23, 2008
PANJIM, FEB 23 — The Bangalore-based Wilbur Smith Associates has been appointed consultant to prepare a feasibility report on the much talked about 4-laning of the National Highway-17 from Patradevi to Polem, to be undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Wilbur Smith Associates Private Limited (WSAPL) — an affiliate of Wilbur Smith Associates Inc, USA — is a full service professional consulting firm engaged in the planning and designing of public infrastructure and transportation facilities.
According to a source in the Public Works Department once the highway becomes ready it will help reduce the traffic congestion and the number of accidents on this 139-km stretch.
He said NHAI will acquire 60 meters of land one both side of the existing highway.
The project is the part of the project undertaken by NHAI to upgrade NH-17 from Panvel to Kochin into a 4-lane.
However, the source said, the stretch between Mapusa and Margao will be a 6-lane as this area has the maximum traffic flow.
The source further said that the project would see several new bridges at Colvale, Mandovi, Zuari, Talpem and Galgibag while a multiple fly-over at the KTC circle at Panjim, the source said.
The department has already acquired 30-metre width of land on both sides of the highway from Patradevi to Porvorim Bazar and the problem appears to be between Porvorim Bazar and the Mandovi Bridge. Therefore a few flyovers on the road have also been suggested.
When pointed out that the stretch from Porvorim to Mandovi already has a four lane, the source replied, that the entire stretch has to be re-done as it does not have service lane, breakdown lane etc.
“Steps have been taken to expedite the implementation of these projects and the actual work is likely to start in 2010 as the forest clearances consume lot of time,” he said.
If everything goes well, the source said, the entire project should be complete by 2013-14. The project is expected to cost around Rs 1,200 crore, The project will be undertaken under built, operate and transfer basis and the PWD National Highways division will take all the government department concerned into confidence and a plan will be developed before going ahead with the project, the source said.
Source: oheraldo.in
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