New Delhi: The government is planning to bid
out six mega road projects entailing a total investment of
Rs 30,000 crore across the country.
"We will be bidding out shortly the mega project in the
next four to six weeks, we should have the first mega project
of about 1 billion dollar (Rs 5,000 crore)," Transport
Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of the
India Economic Summit here today.
The six mega projects would be given out in Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The minister had earlier indicated that these mega
projects would cost one billion dollar each and be developed
at various places across India.
Nath further said that Expressways Authority of India
would be set up next year to look at specific needs of
developing expressways in the country.
"We have already set up a division for expressways. Next
year we are going to set a separate expressway authority.
Expressway is the next big thing on our plate," Nath said.
The Minister expressed optimism that the road
construction activity would touch 8-9 km per day-mark in the
country next month and the target of achieving 20 km per day
would be met by March 2010.
Nath said that various foreign firms have shown interest
in investing in the highways sector in India and the issues
higlighted by them are being addressed.
He also said that of the USD 20 billion investment
required in the sector over the next one year, about 60 percent would come from the private sector.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 08, 2009, 17:39