Highway investment 11% short of XIth Plan estimate

October 31, 2011

Investments in road and bridges during the XIth Five Year Plan would be 11% lower than the initial estimates on account of poor performance by the private and central sectors, according to the Planning Commission.

Railways is also set to miss the investment target during the ongoing Plan.

The revised projected investment in roads is Rs278,658 crore as compared with the initial projections of Rs314,152 crore.

“The investment from the Centre is expected to decline due to award of lower than projected road projects by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) during the first three years of the Plan,” said a plan panel report.

In the Railways, the investment projection has been lowered to Rs200,802 crore as against the initial aim Rs258,439 crore.

“The investment by the private sector is also expected to go down due to award of a lower number of BOT (build, operate and transfer) projects in the first three years of the XIth Plan,” the report said.

A senior NHAI official attributed the development to economic recession in 2008-09.

“Highway tendering came to a grinding halt during that year as bidders turned away following a funding freeze. Out of the plans to award 45 highway projects worth around Rs60,000 crore during that year, the authority could barely manage to award eight,” the official said.

In case of Railways, the basic tenets of the public-private partnership have not been yet decided, which is delaying the mega locomotive and coach factory projects.

The downward revision of investments projections in the Railways is in both central and the private sectors.

“As per latest estimates, only Rs8,316 crore is expected by way of private investment, which is only 16.5% of original projections,” said the report.

Source: www.dnaindia.com