Highway Ministry can approve projects up to ₹1,000 crore.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval to segregate construction cost from that of land acquisition, and pre-construction activities for appraisal and approval of National Highways projects.

Additionally the Cabinet has stated that all NH projects with a civil construction cost of up to ₹1,000 crore approvals of the Ministry for Road Transport and Highways will be sufficient. Only for projects over ₹1,000 crore, a Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs nod will be required.

The policy will speed up process of appraisal and approval of NH projects and help meet the target of 10,000 km set for this year.

In another move, the CCEA also authorised NHAI to give road developers more time to finish their projects if the delays have not been caused by the developer, said the release. But the time for operations (toll collection or annuity payments) will continue to be the same, said an official release. This will be permitted for only for four-lane projects.

It may be noted that there are provisions for extending the toll collection period as a part of the contract between developer and NHAI.

The extension will be given based on assessment of independent engineer, both individual and the firm, who will be accountable for the assessment of the extension recommended in the concession period.

The projects using the above special dispensation shall have to achieve physical completion in the next three years.

'The move will help 34 languishing road projects,' said Piyush Goyal, Power Minister, while briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting.


HBL