The Malaysian government has roped in about a dozen companies and proposes to build a network of national expressways spanning 7,000 km.

The project, to be executed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis in a phased manner, envisages two expressways: one linking Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune; the other connecting Delhi and Kolkata.

Malaysian cabinet minister of works Dato Seri S. Samy Vellu said that 11 Malaysian companies, including IJM, United Engineers Malaysia Group and Ranhill Corporation, were keen on the project. “The expressway will also pave the way for investors pumping in money to set up units along (the expressways). However, land acquisition will have to be done by the Indian government,” he said.

If the proposal passes muster with the Indian government, it could well turn out to be the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) in a road project in the country. Infrastructure funding experts estimate the project to cost at least Rs 42,000-56,000 crore, given the ballpark cost of Rs 6-8 crore per expressway km, depending on terrain.

Vellu said the consortium, backed by the Malaysian government, would also ask India to extend a budgetary grant to the project. In India, BOT leases typically have a 20-year concession period. At present, Mumbai-Pune is the only expressway in the country and two others, Delhi-Jaipur and Vadodara-Mumbai, are being planned.

“Toll revenues are expected to be significant,” Vellu, who is president of the Malaysian Indian Congress and one of the longest serving ministers in the cabinet, said along the sidelines of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2007, organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs and supported by the Delhi government and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

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