Highways

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has clarified that users' experience on highway toll plazas will not be impacted with the implementation of new norms on FASTag transactions. The clarification came after the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems, introduced a new regulation with regard to delayed transactions due to inactive FASTags at toll plazas. The rules have come into effect on February 17. The NPCI circular aims to ensure that the FASTag transactions are settled within the reasonable time of vehicle passing a toll plaza so that customers are not harassed by late transactions, NHAI said in a statement. "The circular has been issued by NPCI to facilitate resolution of disputes between acquirer bank and issuer bank on FASTag status while vehicle crosses toll plazas," it said. The NHAI further said that all National Highway toll plazas operate on ICD 2.5 protocol which gives ...

Delayed HAM projects rose from 33% of total projects to 55%, says agency

The government is planning to bring annual and lifetime toll passes for 15 years for Rs 3000 and Rs 30,000, respectively, to reduce the toll burden on regular commuters

The company's growth is fueled by the infusion of Rs 5,500 crore from its key investors- KKR Fund and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP)

Several districts, including Kanpur, Bareilly, Barabanki, Bahraich, Agra, Aligarh, and Gorakhpur are poised to benefit from these projects

This came after projects inaugurated by Modi saw quality defects, such as stretches of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, prompting criticism on social media

Nitin Gadkari mentioned that the transport sector accounts for about 40 per cent of India's air pollution and outlined various initiatives to address the issue

Since Adityanath took office in March 2017, various expressway projects - either commissioned or still under construction - have a total outlay of Rs 80,000 crore

The government has collected Rs 1.44 lakh crore as toll tax at fee plazas presently operational under Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model on National Highways since December 2000, Parliament was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said all user fee plazas on National Highways are established as per the provision of National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008 and the respective Concession Agreement. "Amount of 1.44 lakh crore rupees have been collected as user fee at fee plazas presently operational under Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model on National Highways since December, 2000," he said. Replying to a separate question, Gadkari said the government has initiated the implementation of barrier-free tolling using available technology based electronic toll collection (ETC) system as an added facility along with FASTag. The minister said presently, Global ...

Earlier, during its annual general meeting on September 28, 2024, the company had approved the sale of 12 road assets

Construction of the 5.9-kilometre, six-lane elevated road was initially conceived in 2012 to alleviate traffic congestion between Noida and Delhi. However, the project has faced many setbacks

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday came down heavily on agencies and contractors over ill-maintained roads, saying good operators would be awarded but bad ones would be "driven out of the system". "We will not spare you. We'll ensure that bank guarantees of those doing bad work are forfeited and after this, we will blacklist you, not allow you to apply for new tenders," the minister said. His warning came after he noticed the bad maintenance of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway that he took to reach Ghaziabad to inaugurate a tree plantation drive 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' under the 'Swachhata Hi Seva 2024 - Swabhav Swachhata - Sanskar Swachhata' campaign. During his address, the minister highlighted the strides in development made under the government, the ministry and the National Highway Authority of India, citing data, expenditures and the future vision for the sector. He also emphasised the need for pro-environment policies and initiatives like ...

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has constituted a panel of experts for the technical review of tunnel projects on National Highways. According to a communication by the ministry, the panel comprises experts from ONGC, RVNL and THIDCL for tendering expert advice during the appraisal of long tunnel (length of more than 1.5 km) projects. Proposals for long tunnel projects (length of more than 1.5 km) on NHs must be submitted to the Director General (Road Development) for technical review and obtaining expert advice from an advisory panel well before submitting the proposal for appraisal of Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) and Standing Finance Committee (SFC), it stated. In the communication to states, NHAI and National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation, among others, the ministry stated that the proposal must include details of geological studies, alignment report, design of tunnels, safety measures during operations along with cost ...

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on Wednesday said that even a single bid for national highways work will be considered if it is reasonable. As per the circular, the bidding process will not be cancelled if there is only one bidder for a highway project. "Even when only one bid is submitted, the process should be considered valid, provided the procurement was satisfactory advertised and sufficient time was given for submission of bids, the qualification criteria were not restrictive and prices are reasonable in comparison to market value, " it said. Regarding reasonableness of the prices, the circular said the evaluation committee may examine the rates taking into consideration the comparison with the similar contracts awarded elsewhere. The purchase price of similar contracts may be updated taking into consideration inflation during the interim period, geographical conditions etc, it added. The circular said the purchase price of similar contracts may also be ...

The Reserve Bank on Thursday modified its e-mandate framework and allowed auto-replenishment of FASTag and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC). The current e-mandate framework requires a pre-debit notification at least a 24-hours before the actual debit from the customer's account. In June, the RBI announced that auto-replenishment of balances in FASTag and NCMC, which are recurring in nature but without any fixed periodicity, would be facilitated under the e-mandate framework. "It has been decided to include auto-replenishment of FASTag and NCMC, as and when the balance falls below a threshold set by the customer, under the e-mandate framework," the RBI said in a circular. Payments for auto-replenishment, since they are recurring in nature but without any fixed periodicity, will be exempt from the requirement of pre-debit notification, it added.

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved eight important national High-Speed Road Corridor Projects of length 936 km entailing a total cost of Rs 50,655 crore to improve logistics efficiency and enhance connectivity across the country, an official statement said. The implementation of these 8 projects will generate an estimated 4.42 crore mandays of direct and indirect employment, it said. The projects include- 6-Lane Agra-Gwalior National High-Speed Corridor, 4-Lane Kharagpur - Moregram National High-Speed Corridor, 6-Lane Tharad - Deesa - Mehsana - Ahmedabad National High-Speed Corridor, 4-lane Ayodhya Ring Road, 4-Lane Section between Pathalgaon and Gumla of Raipur-Ranchi National Highspeed Corridor, and 6-Lane Kanpur Ring Road.

Marking nine months since the war in Gaza started, Israeli protesters blocked highways across the country on Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and pushing for a cease-fire that could bring back hostages held by Hamas. The demonstrations come as international mediators have renewed efforts to broker a deal, with Hamas over the weekend appearing to have dropped a key demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war, according to Egyptian and Hamas officials who spoke to The Associated Press. This could deliver the first pause in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks. The war, triggered by the Palestinian militant group following a cross-border attack on October 7, saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others taken hostage. A retaliatory Israeli air and ground offensive has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has ...

Experts understand it as reasonable, given the high base the highway budget is operating on due to back-to-back bumper hikes in the previous two financial years

Focus will be on the quality of work done and not just the length of highways built, say senior govt officials

Motorists using expressways will have to shell out more from Monday as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to hike tolls across the country by an average of 5 per cent. The annual revision of highway user fee, which is expected to be in the range of average 5 per cent, was earlier to come into effect on April 1. But the hike was deferred due to the Lok Sabha elections. "The new user fee will come into effect from 3.6.2024," a senior NHAI official said on Sunday. The change in toll fee is part of an annual exercise to revise the rates that are linked to the changes in the wholesale price index (CPI)-based inflation. There are around 855 user fee plazas on the national highway network on which user fee is levied as per the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008. Out of these, around 675 are public-funded fee plazas and 180 are operated by concessionaires.