Highway projects coming up for bidding

New Delhi: Projects to construct or widen 5,000 km of highways, with an estimated construction cost of Rs 6,950 crore will come up for bidding over the next few months.

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to upgrade 4,000 km of single/intermediate/two-lane national highways (NHs) on build operate transfer (BOT)-Toll mode and that of 1,000 km of NHs on BOT-Annuity mode aggregating to a length of 5,000 km of single/ intermediate/ two-lane National Highways to two lane with paved shoulders under National Highways Development project phase-IVA at an estimated cost of Rs 6,950 crore, said the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram.

BOT-toll are those projects where a company takes up the construction work of the highway, maintains and manages it for a certain predetermined period and also collects the toll revenues. In BOT-Toll (Annuity) project, while a company constructs the highway, National Highways Authority of India collects the toll revenues.