Road Transport - Indian Budget 2006 – 2007 (81 - 84)

Road Transport

81. The National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) continues to make impressive progress. The highest ever number and value of contracts were awarded in calendar 2005. I propose to enhance the Budget support for NHDP from Rs.9,320 crore to Rs.9,945 crore in 2006-07.

82. A special accelerated road development programme for the North Eastern region at an estimated cost of Rs.4,618 crore has been approved. For 2006-07, I propose to provide a sum of Rs.550 crore for this programme.

83. Government has also decided to develop 1,000 kms of access-controlled Expressways. These will be on new alignment and built on the Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) model. The sections that have been identified are Vadodara-Mumbai, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Agra, Bangalore-Chennai and Kolkata-Dhanbad. The concessionaires will be selected through an international competitive bidding process.

84. National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will be restructured and made more effective. It will be made into a multi-disciplinary body with the capacity to handle a large number of PPP projects. New skill areas in planning and quality assurance, standardization, arbitration, road-safety and R&D will be created.