The Planning Commission has projected Rs 4,553-crore private investments for roads during the Ninth Plan.
In a document prepared as part of the exercise to revise the Ninth Plan, the panel has said that Rs 1,626 crore expected as external assistance to the National High Authority of India (NHAI) would be earmarked for four-laning, including construction of bypass and bridges, 635 kms of roads connecting the metropolitan cities.
The government has decided to allocate an additional Rs 495 crore to enable NHAI access the external aid for various projects. This is apart from Rs 3,160 crore expected from cess on petrol.
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These amounts are besides the budgetary support of Rs 2,010 crore available to NHAI in the Ninth Plan, the document said.
The private sector is expected to invest Rs 3,553 crore in NHAI projects and Rs 1,000 crore in non-NHAI projects, mostly state highways. The private sector is expected to participate in four-laning of 371 kms of the national highways under the build-operate-transfer scheme with NHAI.
The document estimates that the NHAI will be able to complete four-laning of 1,402 kms of the national highways in the Plan period out of the 5,978 kms entrusted to it.
The road wing of the surface transport ministry is also expected to complete four-laning of 249 kms.
The document states that projects have either been sanctioned or contracts awarded for four-laning of 1,031 kms. Project reports, feasibility studies are either underway or have been completed for 4,576 kms.
The projects include 27 bypass jobs on national highways through budgetary funding and the rest with private funding. Work on around 307 major and minor bridges will begin during the remaining period of the Ninth Plan.
The ministry of surface transport has a budgetary support of Rs 11,960 crore, including the external aid during the Plan period. Money will also be spent on widening 1,510 kms of roads that have traffic density of less than 20,000 passenger car units per day.
The ministry will also strengthen and provide paved shoulders to 3,400 kms of road which have been damaged.
The ministry's work programme for the Plan period also includes building 2,700 kms of border roads and projects in the North-East which have been allocated 10 per cent of the budgetary resources.