At the beginning of the current financial year 2024-25, under ongoing/awarded projects, the Ministry had about 20,000 km balance length of National Highways (NHs) for construction. Moreover, the Ministry has a shelf of projects under DPR and tendering process, to further augment the construction progress during the current and next fiscal years. The Ministry is leveraging the mechanism of review and resolution of bottlenecks/hindrances in ongoing projects, in active collaboration with the State Governments and other stakeholder. Ministry is also making full efforts to expedite the availability of necessary clearances / approvals and the fulfilment of conditions precedent, for new projects. However, no specific annual rate of increase in construction has been planned so far.

The Government has approved Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for building NHs to speed up construction pace in the country by renewing interest of private developers in highway projects. The objective is to maximize the quantum of projects that can be implemented within the available limited financial resources of the Government. Further, HAM allows sharing of risk between private developers and the Government. By contributing 40% of the project cost during construction period, the government shares the financial burden with private players, while traffic/ revenue risks lie with the Authority.

Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, this Ministry has been able to provide various relaxations to the contractors & concessionaires to ensure sufficient cash flow to the projects and reduced working capital requirements. Further, Innovative Financing methods like InvIT have unlocked value of completed road assets. Through InvIT, the Ministry has been able to generate alternate source of capital in addition to traditional sources of funds such as budgetary allocation & toll revenue, and there is greater participation in O&M of private players.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/GS

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