Those who love hitting the road during vacations have finally something to cheer about. The Indian Government has made an announcement about its plan to initiate a new infrastructure project, which would improve the connectivity of the country in a number of ways. According to the plan, the existing roads would be upgraded as well as new roads would be built to bolster the connectivity across the nation. Vijay Chibber, the Road Secretary said that the Government has already started preparing precise plans for the project.
According to the plan, the Government is preparing to design an extensive network of top-quality highways, which would mobilise passenger vehicle movement as well as hasten the goods transport across the country. Some other plans of this project are to lower the fuel consumption costs and also making the environment free of air pollution up to some extent.
The Government, as a start of the plan, has identified 123 headquarters of districts, which are not connected to the National Highway network at the moment. This will be a part of the National Highway Development Programme. Also, there are plans to connect underdeveloped areas in some states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with the National Highway. The Government also has plans to make the connectivity better to places of religious interest, as a part of the project.
A total sum of Rs 42913 crores has been allocated for this cause in the Budget 2016. This amount, though large, might not be enough for completion of the project. However, the government expects to attract private investors through the hybrid annuity model. According to this model, the private association bears 60 per cent of the total cost, while the rest is carried out by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). If the revenues do not come up to the expected sum, the Government would take up the risk in the project. The Government has fixed a target of constructing 30 kilometres in a day by 2016-17 that stands at merely 11 kilometres a day at the moment.
