The Ministry has constructed 8,169 km of National Highways (NHs) from April 2020 to 15 January 2021 in the current financial year 2020-21, i.e. with a speed of about 28.16 km per day. During the same period in the last fiscal, 7,573 km roads were constructed, with a speed of 26.11 km per day.

The Ministry is hopeful that with such pace it should be able to cross construction target of 11,000 km by 31 March.

The Ministry also awarded NH projects of 7,597 km during this period (April 2020 to 15 January 2021). In 2019-20, projects of 3,474 km were awarded during the same period. Thus, the pace of award has also more than doubled this fiscal.

In total, projects of 8,948 km of roads were awarded in 2019-20 while 10,237 km of roads were constructed.

The achievement assumes significance given the fact that the first two months of the current fiscal were lost due to nationwide lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry has taken several initiatives to increase the pace of construction. The pace of construction is expected to increase further in the remaining months of the current financial year, which are conducive for construction activities.

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Several parts of the national capital remained flooded on Thursday as rain continued to drench the city and its neighbouring areas for the second consecutive day, triggering traffic jams during morning rush hours.

Delhi recorded 46 mm rainfall as per the  Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city. The Palam weather station gauged 70.9 mm rainfall during the period, more than six times the normal rainfall.

On an average, the city gauges 11.3 mm rainfall from 8:30 am on August 19 to 8:30 am on August 20 every year.

Though the overnight rain brought down the temperature to 27 degrees, residents soon realised the harsh reality of poor state of civic infrastructure in the national capital as they stepped out of their homes.

Heavy traffic disruption was reported on Narela-Bawana road, Raja Garden flyover, Kasturba Underpass, MB Rad, Jhandewalan Mandir, Jhilmil underpass, Azadpur vegetable market, Sarai Pipal Thala, Jahangirpuri and Madanpur Khadar.

“Waterlogging reported at Jhilmil Underpass (both carriageways). Traffic is affected now,” informed the Delhi Police on Twitter.

“Traffic Alert: Water logging reported under Raja Garden flyover (both carriageways). Traffic is affected now,” it added.

The weather department has predicted thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rain in many places in Delhi in the next few hours. Delhi, Noida and Gurugram have been witnessing heavy showers since Wednesday.

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The assessment parameters are based on different international practices and studies for benchmarking highway performances in Indian context. The criteria for the assessment have been broadly categorised in three main heads: Highway Efficiency (45%), Highway Safety (35%) and User Services (20%). On the basis of outcome of the assessment, the authority will undertake a comprehensive analysis and decide on the level of intervention required to enhance the overall service quality.

Additionally, important parameters like operating speed, access control, time taken at toll plaza, road signages, road markings, accident rate, incident response time, crash barriers, illumination, availability of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), functionality of structures, provision for grade separated intersections, cleanliness, plantation, wayside amenities and customer satisfaction will also be considered while conducting the assessment.

The score obtained by each Corridor in each of the parameter will provide a feedback and corrective recourse for higher standards of operation, better safety and user experience to improve existing highways. This will also help in identifying and filling gaps of design, standards, practices, guidelines and contract agreements for other NHAI projects.

The ranking of the corridors will be dynamic and the concessionaire/ contractor/ operator will get the opportunity to improve upon their ranking by improving the services on that corridor. Apart from overall ranking of all the corridors, separate ranking for BOT, HAM and EPC projects will also be done. This process of ranking will bring out operational efficiency and ensure high quality maintenance of roads.

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The signatories to the loan agreement were Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Mr Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission.

After signing the loan agreement, Shri Khare said that state highways and major district roads provide a crucial link between rural roads and national highways. The upgradation of these roads under the project will improve rural and peri-urban connectivity in the state and improve access to markets and better services.

While Mr Yokoyama said that the project continues ADB’s engagement with the state’s road sector since 2002. This will open a new partnership by introducing PPP through the hybrid-annuity model (HAM), thereby leveraging government financing and improving sustainability of capital investments.

The HAM is a mix of engineering, procurement, construction, and build-operate-transfer. This passes the responsibility of design, implementation, and operation and maintenance obligations to the private sector, while attracting some private sector financing. Under this model, the government will release 60% of the total project cost during construction, to be paid to the concessionaire in tranches linked to completion milestones. The remaining 40% is arranged by the concessionaire in the form of equity and commercial debt. Once the project is completed, the government will repay the concessionaire’s financial investment over 10 years.

The project will upgrade 750 km of state highways and 850 km of MDRs to two-lane and all-weather standards with road safety features. It will also develop an e-maintenance system, which can record defects or required maintenance, along with a training program to develop capacity on contract implementation and project finance in the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation. Since 2002, ADB has provided the state government with five loans to develop its road network, improving about 7,300 km of roads or about 11% of the total network.

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Background:
Roads and highways are the lifeline of the economy, connecting remote and far-flung areas and ensuring efficient transportation on regional as well as pan-India basis. Development of National Highways has a multiplier effect in terms of facilitating trade and enhancing the overall economic development of a region.

In October 2017, Government of India launched BharatmalaPariyojana, which is the flagship highway development programme of Government of India for development of 24,800 km of roads for a total investment of Rs. 5,35,000 crore.

Given the magnitude of the Bharatmala program, NHAI would need adequate funds to complete the Projects within the prescribed timelines. As a part of this exercise, a workable option is to monetize the completed and operational NH assets to unlock their value and offer attractive schemes to private players to invest in construction of National Highways.

Implementation:
Using new and innovative financing vehicles has become inevitable for organisations like NHAI that have limited existing sources of funds. The then Finance Minister, in his Budget Speech of year 2018-19, had stated that NHAI may consider organizing its road assets into Special Purpose Vehicles and use innovative monetizing structures such as Toll, Operate and Transfer model and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvlTs)

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meanwhile

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the amendments proposed in the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) Model by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Public funded National Highway (NH) projects which are operational and have toll revenue generation history of one year after the Commercial Operations Date (COD) shall be monetized through the TOT Model. The monetization will be subject to approval of the Competent Authority in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) / NHAI on a case to case basis.

Around 75 operational NH projects have been identified for potential monetization using the TOT Model, and bundled into 10 separate bids to attract economics of scale for the private sector. The corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetization shall be utilized by the Government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and O&M of highways in the country. The Model would facilitate efficient toll realization through private sector.

This approval would ensure a wider set of assets for Monetization and providing a more attractive model for the investors. Further, the fund generated from such monetization shall be utilized for development/O&M of highways in the country, which would benefit highway users throughout the country.

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