Express highway project delayed due to departmental blockades

December 17, 2007

Lucknow, December 16 Even though the state government has started a number of road projects in the last six months, Amar Shaheed Path Express Highway, proposed and inaugurated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaee, still has a long way to go. Even after six years since its construction was started, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) could only finish 75 per cent of the work. The project was inaugurated on September 22, 2001 with a stipulated deadline of 36 months. However, due to various constraints, the road project work progressed at a snail’s pace.

A senior NHAI official said they had to face various hurdles like land acquisition and clearances from various government organisations, etc.

“It took us long to get clearances for constructing railway overbridges from the railway authorities. At some places, the land acquisition delayed the work. The authorities were not supportive,” he said.

Talking to The Indian Express, Deputy General Manager (technical), NHAI, J S Parmar said all bottlenecks have been removed and remaining work is expected to be over by June 2008.

“There were certain problems but they have been resolved. Of the total three overbridges falling in way of the highway, one is completed and work on other two will start soon. Left out road stretches would also be completed,” he said.

He added land acquisition or getting clearances were not the only reasons for the delay. “The project was revised a few times after work started. Like, two underpasses and 1.5-km-long viaduct near Gomti Nagar were added subsequently,” Parmar said.

Besides, the NHAI officials blame the contractor of the project, Atlanta Ltd, for slow progress of work. “We held meetings with them and asked them to carry out project in time. We also warned them if they didn’t work efficiently, their license will be cancelled. The work is going smoothly at the moment,” said another NHAI official.

The 22-km-long highway connects NH-25 (Lucknow-Kanpur) and NH-28 (Lucknow-Faizabad) via NH-56 (Lucknow-Sultanpur) passing through the city. “The highway will act as an outer ring road. It may not directly benefit local commuters, but traffic congestion will reduce on city roads. The heavy vehicles or the commuters going to Rae Bareli, Sultanpur, Faizabad and Kanpur could travel on it without entering the city. Only a few important crossings have been left on the highway so that the vehicles do not get slowed down, causing jams,” said Parmar.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Expressway, Highway, NHAI, NHDP

20 cos bid for longest expressway in India

December 6, 2007

The planned expressway will dwarf the 95km-long, six-laned, access controlled expressway connecting India’s financial capital Mumbai with Pune

Mumbai: Twenty firms have submitted initial bids for building India’s longest and biggest expressway project yet—a Rs40,000 crore, eight-laned, access controlled expressway linking Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) with Greater Noida—located on the border of the Capital, New Delhi.

The 1047 km-long road project dubbed Ganga Expressway will, when operational, cut travel time between the backward eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and the more prosperous western part of the state, by 16 hours from the current 24 hours.

For a traveller, it would take just about eight hours to zip from the holy city of Varanasi to New Delhi when the project is completed.

The planned expressway will dwarf the 95km-long, six-laned, access controlled expressway connecting India’s financial capital Mumbai with Pune and the under construction and controversy-ridden 111km-long expressway linking Bangalore with the garden city of Mysore.

The firms that have applied for pre-qualification include Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Reliance Energy Ltd, DLF Ltd, IL&FS Ltd, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd with Australia’s biggest investment bank Macquarie, GMR Group, the Omaxe Ltd-GVK Group-Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd consortium, the Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd-Apollo Group-D S Constructions Ltd consortium, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Canadian firm SNC Lavalin with Progressive Constructions Ltd, Unitech Ltd, Punj Lloyd Ltd, Oman’s Gulfar Engineering & Contracting Llc., Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd, Australia’s Leighton Group with Oriental Construction Co. Ltd, and PLUS Expressways Berhad, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s UEM Group, according to an official with the UP government overseeing the bidding process who did not wish to be named.

UP has taken inspiration for building the Ganga Expressway from legendary Afghan leader Sher Shah Suri, who built the Grand Trunk Road connecting Delhi with Kabul in the 16th century after temporarily displacing Humayun from the Mughal throne.

Suri’s road ran alongside the right bank of the Ganga; the new expressway will be built on the left bank of the river.

The eight-laned expressway will be constructed on an embankment to be built by the state’s irrigation department for controlling floods on the left bank of the Ganga.

The proposed expressway will start at Ballia-Gazipur and pass through Varanasi, Mirzapur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Fatehgarh, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddhanagar and terminate at Greater Noida.

The expressway project will make available around 5,000 acres of land for real estate development including residential and industrial units. This will make the project economically viable for the developers.

The work on the expressway project will begin next year.

Source: livemint.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Default, Expressway, Highway, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance

Gayatri Projects SPVs achieve financial closure

December 4, 2007

Gayatri Projects Ltd has announced that the Company has achieved the financial closure for the Company’s following Hyderabad Outer Ring Road Projects (SPV’s) at an interest rate of 11% p.a., ahead of the stipulated time given by the Employer namely Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

Financial Closure of Hyderabad Expressways Pvt Ltd (HEPL) – Total cost of the Project Rs 430.96 crores: M/s. Hyderabad Expressways Pvt Ltd promoted in Consortium, by the Company as lead technical member, with 50% share holding, bid and won road project (AP-IV) for design, construction, development, finance, operate and maintain eight lane access controlled expressway under Phase II programme of outer ring road (ORR) of Hyderabad Urban Development Authority. The concession Agreement was signed on August 17, 2007. The total debt syndicated for this Project is Rs 290.90 crores.

IL&FS (IL&FS Financial Services Ltd) has syndicated entire debt and United Bank of India is the Leader of the Consortium of Lenders for the SPV.

Details of the package awarded are as follows: AP IV – from Bongulur to Tukkuguda from km. 108 to km. 121 on BOT – Annuity basis. Estimated Project Cost incl. IDC is around Rs 430.96 cr. and the project has a positive Grant of Rs 71.86 crores. HUDA will pay a semi-annual annuity of Rs 30.49 crore to HEPL during the Annuity period. The concession period door-to-door is 15 years, with. a construction period of 2 years 6 months and Annuity period of 12 years 6 Months.

Financial Closure of Cyberabad Expressways Pvt Ltd (CEPL) – Total cost of the Project Rs 501.75 crores: M/s. Cyberabad Expressways Pvt Ltd promoted in Consortium by the Company as lead technical member with 50% share holding, bid and won road project (APII) for design, construction, development, finance, operate and maintain eight lane access controlled expressway under Phase II programme of outer ring road (ORR) of Hyderabad Urban Development Authority.

IL&FS (IL&FS Financial Services Ltd) has syndicated entire debt and United Bank of India is the Leader of the Consortium of Lenders for the SPV.

Details of the package awarded are as follows: AP II – from Kollur to Patancheru from km. 12 to km. 23.70 on BOT – Annuity basis. Estimated Project Cost incl. IDC is Rs 501.75 crores and the project has a positive Grant of Rs 81 crores. Annuity – Rs 79 cr. p.a. HUDA will pay a semi-annual annuity of Rs 39.50 crore to CEPL during the Annuity period. The concession period door-to-door is 15 years, with a construction period of 2 years 6 months and Annuity period of 12 years 6 Months. The concession Agreement was signed on August 17, 2007. The total debt syndicated for this Project is Rs 376.31 crores

The Company is a pioneer in construction of National Highways, Dams, Canals, Aquaducts, Flyovers, Coal handling plants, Bridges, Railway Projects, Airport Runways, BOT Toll and Annuity Road Projects as develop and Industrial Constructions.

Source: equitybulls.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Construction, Expressway, Gayatri, Highway, Hyderabad, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T), NHAI, Projects

Expressway toll may soon be linked to distance travelled

October 25, 2007

NEW DELHI, OCTober 24: In a move that is likely to benefit consumers just as much as it would India’s premier road development authority, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said that expressways scheduled to come up under the National Highway Development Project (NHDP) would follow a ‘closed tolling’ system, which would charge users a toll calculated on the basis of distance travelled.

Under the format, access to every entry and exit point of these expressways would be controlled allowing the road operator to monitor distance traversed and accordingly charge the levy. “All the expressways which will come up under phase VI of NHDP will be implemented on a closed tolling format as these will be access-controlled roads,” said a senior NHAI official. “While users will have to pay only for the stretch of the road used, the road developer will also benefit from improved revenue collections from toll.”

According to the official, at present a significant number of expressway users — especially local ones — skirt the levy by entering and exiting expressways before coming to a toll point. Hence, collection efficiency on many of these ‘open-toll’ highways and expressways ranges between 70-80 per cent.

The 1,000 km of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll expressways envisaged to come up under the closed toll format, at an indicative cost of Rs 15,000 crore, would not only help private developers maximise earnings but also induce more customers to ply through them by enabling them to pay a more ‘realistic’ toll, says the official.

One of the first expressways slated to come up under the format is Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation’s 135-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway, also known as the Western Peripheral Expressway. The Rs 1,800 crore expressway, the largest in the country, would provide a high-speed link between northern Haryana and its southern districts like Sonepat, Jhajjar, Gurgaon and Faridabad and sport hi-tech toll plazas at a number of points en-route.

“All entrances to the KMP expressway would be controlled and a ‘token’ — a smart card encoded with the issuing station’s information — would be provided to motorists at the time of entry into the system,” said Rafi Khan, general manager of DS Constructions, one of the concessionaires for the project. “The motorist can exit from any of the controlled locations and will be required to pay only for the distance travelled.”

A total of 10 such exit and entry points, including two main toll plazas at Kundli and Palwal, are planned on the expressway. With the closed tolling format in place, the developer expects to see 30,000 passenger car units roll on the road every day, with a projected robust growth of around 9-10 per cent every year once the project is completed in 2009.

With closed toll roads like the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway already operational and others like NHAI’s 134-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway in the offing, the stage seems set for a more consumer-centric toll system to become the norm on the country’s fast roads.

Consumer-Friendly

•Extension of 95-km Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway by 400 km to Mumbai

•Delhi-Agra

•Delhi-Meerut

•Chennai-Bangalore

•Kolkata-Dhanbad

Source: indianexpress.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Construction, Expressway, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance

IRB Infrastructure to tap market with 5.1 crore share float

October 4, 2007

MUMBAI: Another infrastructure to realty developer has sought the market regulator’s permission to tap the capital markets.

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd has lined up 5.1 crore share equity offering of Rs 10 each through 100 per cent book building process.

IRB Infrastructure was formed to fund the capital requirement of the IRB Group’s initiatives in the infrastructure and construction sectors. It has extensive experience in roads and highways and is working on build/own/transfer projects like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Bharuch-Surat section of National Highway 8. It has also diversified into real estate development.

As a part of its business strategy, the company now proposes to invest in its subsidiary IDAA and make prepayment and repayment of its existing loans and the subsidiaries through the net proceeds.

In January 2007 it formed a consortium with Deutsche Bank AG Singapore Branch to jointly bid for certain road infrastructure projects.

The Hong Kong branch of Deutsche Bank, Jade Dragon (Mauritius)-a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, and CPI Ballpark Investments of Merrill Lynch each hold 3.85 per cent stake in IRB Infrastructure.

Deutsche Equities India and Kotak Mahindra Capital are book running lead managers to the issue.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Expressway, Infrastructure, Investment and Finance

New hybrid model likely to fund highway projects

November 22, 2006

NEW DELHI, NOV 22: The Centre is likely to stop financing future highway projects on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) annuity basis because the entire traffic risk falls on National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the government that collects the toll.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Highway, NHAI, Projects

Nine road projects cleared by PPP appraisal committee

November 1, 2006

NEW DELHI, NOV 1: Road sector projects seem to be on the fast track with the public private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC) clearing nine road projects in its second meeting on Wednesday.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under NHAI, NHDP, Projects

Financial closure on Rs 765cr Bangalore Expressway achieved

November 1, 2006

The consortium of Soma Enterprise Ltd., a leading infrastructure developer with Nagarjuna Construction Co. and Maytas Infra Pvt. Ltd., today announced that financial closure on the Rs.765 crore Elevated Toll Expressway Project on Bangalore – Hosur Section of NH-7 (from Km 9.5 to Km 18.5) on BOT basis has been achieved. Out of the Rs.765 crore, Rs.600 crore of debt has been raised from a consortium of banks, led by Canara Bank. The consortium will operate the expressway for a period of 20 years. The special purpose vehicle formed for this project is Bangalore Elevated Tollway Ltd.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Investment and Finance, NHAI

Infrastructure companies — Stack up with discretion

October 14, 2006

Driven by infrastructure spending, the demand side for construction companies remains robust. The key to success will lie in their ability to ramp up resources and capitalise on order flow.

Compound Annual Growth over 3 Years (%)
Indicative OPM across segments (%)

Click on the image to enlarge

Infrastructure has been the new market mantra the past two years. While private equity investors showed keen interest in infrastructure/construction companies, a number of mutual funds also jumped on to this booming bandwagon, investing a chunk of their assets in the sector. An annualised revenue growth of 30-40 per cent over the past three years and an average order size of three-four times the revenues also seem to justify this newfound enthusiasm.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under BOT, Infrastructure, NHAI

New path or alleyway

October 12, 2006

Are contractual ‘innovations’ holding up the showpiece highway project?

It continues to be a slow trudge on the fast lane. Barely 35 per cent of the contracts for the North-South East-West corridor (NHDP-II) have been awarded. This lethargy in the awarding of contracts by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), under the UPA, is predictably bound to lead to long delays in the construction of the highway network across the country.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Highway, Investment and Finance, NHAI, NHDP, Projects

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