<div><em>Government will announce 100 PPP projects in 2016-17 and is looking to award 10,000 kilometres of roads, 70 per cent of which should get completed by 2019. <strong>Ashish Sinha </strong>reports</em></div><div> </div><div>Roads, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday, October 26, 2015 that after the amendments to the regulations on roads and highway projects coming into effect, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects have become viable. As a result the government is set to announce 16 road projects under PPP mode before the year ends. But for 2016, the government is looking at rolling out at least 100 PPP projects, Gadkari said.</div><div> </div><div>“There is a need for capacity building and of increasing the number of contractors and investors in the sector to fast-track projects in PPP mode,” said Gadkari, at the fourth edition of FICCI’s ‘India PPP Summit’.</div><div> </div><div>Gadkari said that the government has taken decisive action to promote the hybrid model of PPP for encouraging investments by the private sector.</div><div> </div><div>According to the new norms, 40 per cent project cost would be funded by the government and the necessary land acquisition and environment clearances would be handed over to the private contractor prior to the commencement of the project. The private player would then need to invest the balance 60 per cent in the project, of which half would come from banks and financial institutions. Also, in such projects the toll would be collected by the government and a fixed annuity with a profit margin would be given to the private partner.</div><div> </div><div>Gadkari assured the industry that the government was committed to liberalizing regulations without compromising on quality to allow more private investors to enter the sector. He urged FICCI to play an active role and encourage investors to look at infrastructure as a profitable sector.</div><div> </div><div>According to the roads minister, the government is revamping the entire transport sector by giving a facelift to rail linkages, inland waterways, and ports. The government was working towards developing dry and satellite ports as well to provide better connectivity for moving cargo efficiently.</div><div> </div><div>The minister said government is looking to resolve the litigation issues with mutual consent to save time, money and move the projects ahead rapidly. He added that to maintain an ecological balance, a Green Highways Policy has been evolved to promote greening of highway corridors with participation of the community, farmers, private sector, NGOs, and government institutions. “One per cent of the total project cost as plantation fund will be kept in a separate account with NHAI,” he said.</div><div> </div><div>The roads ministry, according to the Secretary Vijay Chibber, is proposing to award 12,000 kms of national highway construction next year, of which around 7000-7500 kms will be completed in the next three years. In 2015-16, the ministry was involved in awarding 10,000 kms of roads of which 6,000 kms is nearing completion</div><div> </div><div><em>ashish.sinha@businessworld.in</em></div><div> </div>
