The National Highways Authority of India has invited bids for a length of 10,460 km, costing nearly Rs.1,75,000 crore till January 2018, and is all set to achieve a quantum jump in the award of road projects in the year 2017-18. Further bids in another 1,000 kms will be invited within the next 15 days. The average length of road projects awarded by NHAI in the last 5 years was 2,860 kms, with 4,335 kms awarded in 2016-17. Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation had set a target for NHAI for an award of 10,000 kms this year.  Projects for a length of nearly 2,700 kms, costing Rs.43,000 crore have already been awarded by the authority in 2017-18, and there are plans to award 3,300 kms in February and 5,000 kms in March 2018 subject to a good response in bidding and cooperation from state governments in land acquisition and project clearances. 

A list of the projects awarded and tendered so far is placed below. The projects awarded and likely to be awarded by March, 2018 cover 1,900 kms in Maharashtra; 1150 kms in Rajasthan; 1,020 kms in Uttar Pradesh; 880 kms in Odisha; 745 kms in Andhra Pradesh; 740 kms in Madhya Pradesh; 650 kms in Gujarat; 620 kms in Karnataka; 570 kms in Tamilnadu; 500 kms in Bihar; 430 kms in Jharkhand; 365 kms in Telangana; 350 kms in Haryana; 280 kms in West Bengal; 270 kms in Chattisgarh; and balance in other states (150 kms in Punjab; 150 kms in Himachal Pradesh;140 kms in Delhi, 120 kms in Kerala; 100 kms in J&K). 

With the above jump in awards, NHAI is set to give a good beginning for the ambitious “Bharatmala Pariyojana” approved by the Government in October 2017. To ensure that the targets are achieved, NHAI has set up a robust monitoring mechanism. Officials from the NHAI headquarters have been visiting project sites of critical projects and meeting officials of state governments (District Collectors and Land Acquisition Officers) for expediting land acquisition and project clearances. NHAI has also recruited a large number of retired revenue officials at the field levels. 

NHAI is also ramping up the pace of construction. In 2017-18, NHAI is set to complete construction in a length of 3,500 kms as against the average in last 5 years of 2,170 kms . To maintain the pace of construction, NHAI has commenced works on 27 new projects covering 1,330 kms and will commence the work soon on another 50 projects covering 3,000 kms . Banks/ financial institutions are now showing a keen interest in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and financing of HAM projects is now happening smoothly.