WASHINGTON: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is identifying highway projects connecting export hubs with port cities, its chairman Raghav Chandra said on Tuesday. “We are looking at creating an economic bridge of projects to identify roads connecting export markets with ports or with other important economic destinations,” Mr. Chandra said while speaking at an event organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
“For instance, we may look to connect Moradabad with the mainstream or Agra to Mumbai, Mumbai to Kolkata. We will build road connectivity which brings out greater economic competitiveness of our highways,” he said. The government has already identified industrial corridor Delhi-Mumbai, Amritsar-Kolkata, Chennai-Visakhapatnam and Chennai-Bengaluru to connect the hinterland with the ports. The freight corridor which passes along the corridor will act as a conveyor belt, as per the plan.
NHAI will bid out more than 10,000 km of highway projects this year, Mr. Chandra added. In the next three years, 30,000 km of road projects will be commissioned. Mr. Chandra said NHAI was also targeting greenfield expressway projects on Delhi-Jaipur, Lucknow-Kanpur, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Delhi-Jammu stretches.
NHAI is ready to bid out the first phase of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway. “It will be a 250-km stretch from Vadodara to Kim. We will be bidding out on the BOT (toll) basis because it turns out that it is a viable project over a period of 20 years and the existing road we will give along with that as a sweetener to the concessionaire,” Mr. Chandra said.
