NHAI Shifts In To Fast Lane: Awards 40 Projects Worth Rs 47,000 Crore Covering 1,330 Km In First 6 Moths Of FY20-21

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday (7 October) said it had awarded 40 national highway projects totalling 1,330 kilometres in the first half of the current fiscal. In the comparable April-August period of the last fiscal, the authority had awarded 828 km national highway projects.

During April to September 2020, NHAI has awarded a total of 40 projects covering 1330 km length. Capital cost of these 40 projects is estimated to be Rs. 47,289 crores, which includes cost of civil work, land acquisition, and other pre- construction activities.

NHAI announced that it has set a target of awarding 4500 km of projects during current Financial Year and is likely to exceed the target.

"The projects awarded so far in first half of the current Financial Year are 1.6 times higher than 828 km awarded in FY19-20 and 3.5 times higher than 373 km awarded in FY18-19 during the same period." a NHAI press release said.

According to a Business Standard report, 24 highway contracts out of 40 awards are engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects; the rest 16 are hybrid-annuity model (HAM) contracts.

Based on its analysis of data available on the NHAI website, Business Standard identified Dilip Buildcon, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), IRB Infrastructure Developers (IRB Infra), Sadbhav Engineering, Ashoka Buildcon, PNC Infratech and G R Infraprojects among the companies issued letter of awards in FY21. Dilip Buildcon, one of the main beneficiaries, said in its 14 August analyst presentation that the company had recorded overall orders worth Rs 10,703 crore to date in FY21.

(This story was originally published at India Infra Hub and has been republished here with permission.)