NHIDCL builds portfolio of Rs 1 lakh cr for highway projects

NHIDCL boasts of a portfolio of highway projects valued at around Rs 1 lakh crore in just about two years of its creation

The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), the newest infrastructure company promoted by the central government, boasts of a portfolio of highway projects valued at around Rs 1 lakh crore in just about two years of its creation leaving behind its peers in the private sector.

NHIDCL, a wholly owned company under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, was incorporated on July 18, 2014 and became functional in January 2015 to expedite construction of national highways and other infrastructure in the northeastern region and other strategic areas.

Its portfolio of projects is meatier than the big private players present in the sector. The company, however, has the advantage of receiving contracts on a nomination basis and not bid for the projects unlike the private players.

Currently, Reliance Infrastructure is executing projects worth Rs 6,983 crore totalling a length of 451 km. Ashok Buildcon, another infrastructure company, is currently implementing projects worth Rs 3,372 crore.

NHIDCL is currently executing 134 highway projects totalling a length of 8,000 km mainly in the seven north-eastern states where it routinely grapples with law and order and land acquisition issues.

Seated in his swanky office on the Parliament Street, NHIDCL’s Managing Director Anand Kumar said his aim was to make this government company a ‘game changer’ in the road sector.

“We are using the latest technology including soil stabilisation and slope protection for construction of roads that would help reduce the time taken to build a road,” Kumar told Business Standard.

He said the company’s mandate was not to compete with the private sector but to improve the pace of construction of projects handed over to it. Currently, if a highway gets constructed in two-and-a-half years, it can be done in six months using this technology, he said.

This method would be put to test by the company during the construction of a 18-km long road section from Chand Khera to Kurti bridge on the Assam-Tripura border.

Several media reports in the recent past have suggested that the company might struggle to accomplish its targets during the current financial year.

According to an official, NHIDCL would be unable to meet its target of constructing 945 km of roads during the current financial year. However, Kumar said the company was on track to achieve this goal.

So far in FY17, nine projects totalling a length of 254 km have been awarded by the company and 29 contracts of 691 km are expected to be awarded by March 2017.

While Kumar is confident that the set targets would be achieved, he admits the problem of land acquisition is prevalent in all the seven states – Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

In some states, it is more than the others, he said. At some places, the company also has to deal with local resentment for contractors hired from other states.

According to sources, land acquisition in Meghalaya is yet to take place because of problems within the ruling government.

NHIDCL is offering special packages to the local people and it’s also hand-holding domestic contractors to get the work done.

The company is also using advanced software to address grievances of the general public.