More road projects via EPC on cards

“We have to meet our target of awarding 9,500 km of road projects during the current fiscal. If the projects do not find takers on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode,we may award them on EPC,as funding them is not a problem for us,” said a top road transport ministry official,who did not want to be identified.

The official further said that there is a fund crunch for road projects in the market,as the banks have exhausted their quota for loans for road projects.

“Lot of companies,who got projects last year,are also in the process of achieving financial closure and may not be interested in our projects on offer on PPP mode,” he added.

Two PPP modes on which the projects are awarded,include Build,Operate and Transfer (BOT)-toll and BOT-annuity.

The third mode is EPC,where the project is funded by the government and the road developer is obligated to build the highway within the stipulated time.

Currently,the road transport ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have to achieve an award target of 9,500 km of road projects as set by the PMO.

NHAI,however,feels that awarding projects on EPC will take time and awarding projects in time,and not money,may become a problem.

“We have already lost around five months of our precious time and awarding 4,000 km of projects in the rest time will be tough. To think of adding more projects in the kitty may not be achieved easily,” said a senior NHAI official,on condition of anonymity.