Two-laning of 3,770 km finalised

The ministry of road transport and highways has finalised 3,769km of single lane highways across eight states for upgradation to two lanes.

The finalised stretches are in 33 projects across Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The move is part of the ministry’s plans to two-lane 6,376km of single lane highways through a Rs 15,000 crore loan from the World Bank. Road minister Kamal Nath proposed the project to the bank during his US visit in September. A total of 19,702 km of India’s national highways are single lane.

Meanwhile, the government has started preparing the ground for the tendering process for upgrading the identified stretches. “The bids for preparation of detailed project report (DPR) will be awarded to consultants by the middle of next month. The DPRs are likely to be finalised by the end of next year,” said a ministry official.

“Since the projects involve just upgrading single lane highways, it will not take much time and we hope to finish the work on 3,769 km by 2012,” the official added.

The upgrade projects will be taken up on normal contract basis. Around 80% of the cost will be in the form of debt, while the balance will be pumped in by the ministry.
All projects funded by global agencies have till date been taken on normal contract basis, in which the contractor develops the project without having a stake in it. However, during his recent visit, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick expressed interest in the public-private partnership as well.

Incidentally, the ministry has also finalised an additional 2,400 km of upgrades through budgetary provisions.