press trust of india, New Delhi, June 14: NHIDCL, a government company mandated to fast-track road projects in tough terrain, including border areas, is set to award projects worth Rs1.3 lakh crore over the next five years.
The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) will also be laying out 1,500 km of highways in various states under Modi government’s ambitious Bharat Mala project.
“NHIDCL has set a target to award projects worth Rs1,30,000cr, including 10,000 km of highways and 2,000 bridges,” NHIDCL director (finance) Sanjay Jaju told PTI.
Jaju said the company at present is handling 74 projects of about Rs35,000cr. “In addition, we will be handling another 1,500 km for the Bharat Mala project in various states.”
The Bharat Mala project envisages construction of 5,000 km of road network all along the borders and coastal areas at a cost of Rs55,000cr.
NHIDCL, a fully-owned company of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, awarded 18 projects last fiscal for building 600 km of roads at an expenditure of about Rs8,500cr in Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
Last month, foundation stones were laid by the company for 10 projects for building 281 kms of highways entailing an expenditure of Rs5,320cr.
The company plans to award road packages worth Rs14,599cr in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Nagaland in the current fiscal while it has marked 10 projects worth Rs6,936cr for 2016-17 mostly for these states.
Of the current lot worth about Rs35,000cr being handled by it, mostly are in the North-East while the remaining are in Andaman & Nicobar, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
