Unfolding huge opportunities for the private sector in highways sector, the government will soon seek their participation in 170 projects to be built under PPP mode entailing an investment of Rs 1.19 lakh crore.
"We have identified 170 projects under various phases of the ongoing National Highways Development Project (NHDP) under public-private-partnership (PPP). The investment opportunities have been estimated at Rs 1.19 lakh crore," a top Road Ministry official told PTI.
The projects will be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) which is the nodal agency of the Transport Ministry.
NHDP is one of the largest road development programmes undertaken by a single authority in the world and involves widening, upgrading and rehabilitation of about 54,000 km under seven phases.
Under the current plan the biggest investment opportunity lies in NHDP phase IV for widening and upgrading of 95 road stretches in various state, the official said.
The cost of the projects under phase IV is estimated at Rs 44,857 crore, he said adding that 35 projects would be bid out under NHDP phase V, cost of which has been calculated at Rs 39,476 crore.
Remaining projects fall under phase II and III with estimated investment of Rs 29,440 crore.
Phase II of NHDP involves widening and improvement of the North South-East West corridors while phase III involves upgradation mainly into four-lane of high density national highways, through the Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) mode.
Similarly, phase IV pertains to 2-laning of the highways with paved shoulders while under phase V the government plans 6-laning of the 4-lane highways comprising the GQ and certain other high density stretches.
The government has envisaged a massive investment to the tune of Rs 3 lakh crore under NHDP and 60 per cent of it is estimated to come from the private sector.
