The average length of road projects awarded in last 5 years by NHAI was 2,860 Km with 4,335 Km awarded in FY 2016-17. NHAI is all set to achieve a quantum jump in the award of road projects in FY 2017-18. Rising to the target set to it by Hon’ble Minister, Shri Nitin Gadkari for the award of 10,000 kms, NHAI had already invited bids to a length of 10,460 kms. costing nearly Rs.1,75,000 crore till January 2018 and targeting further to invite bids for another 1,000 kms. within 15 days. The projects in a length of nearly 2,700 kms. costing Rs.43,000 crore had already been awarded. NHAI has planned to award 3,300 kms. in Feb. 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.

The projects are likely to be awarded by March, 2018 covering 1,900 kms. in Maharashtra; 1150 kms. in Rajasthan; 1,020 ms. 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 Km. 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 ambitious “Bharatmala Pariyojana” approved by the Government recently in October 2017, which is to be implemented with a very stiff target of 5 years (2017-18 to 2021-22).

To ensure that the targets are achieved, NHAI had set up a robust monitoring mechanism. NHAI has sent the officers from HQ to visit the project sites of critical projects and meet officers of State Governments (District Collectors and Land Acquisition Officers) for expediting land acquisition and project clearances. It has also recruited a large number of retired revenue officials at the field levels.

NHAI is also ramping up the pace of construction. In FY 2017-18, NHAI is set to complete construction to 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 had commenced the works on 27 new projects (covering 1,330 kms) and will commence the work soon on another 50 projects (covering 3,000 kms).

The banks/ financial institutions are now showing a keen interest in Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and the financing of HAM projects is now happening smoothly. Overall the highway sector has picked up the required momentum for timely implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana.