The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is no longer keen on two-laning 20,000 km of single-lane highways. Eyeing mega toll-based projects, the NHAI has come up with formulae to pass on major portion of the Rs 25,000 crore National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) Phase IV to state PWDs. “It has been suggested that state PWDs take over most of NHDP IV. NHAI will ease things for the states with a proposed Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of up to 40 per cent. The idea was discussed with all state PWD representatives at a meeting held by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways last week,” a senior NHAI official said. The states, it is learnt, are not particularly excited at the prospect of the national highways upgradation exercise being given to them, but a high VGF may lure them to the viable stretches in their areas.However, NHAI has taken up the issue with the Committee on Infrastructure and requested that NHDP IV should be made subject to modification and rescheduling, ‘depending on toll policy for two-lane highways and resource availability for NHDP’. It has also been agreed upon that unless two-laned highways are tolled, it will be difficult to arrange budgetary support for NHDP IV and it may have to be resized. NHAI has been pushing for tolling of two-lane highways with the Committee. NHDP IV, as a result, though marked for implementation during the 11th Five-Year Plan is yet to get a Cabinet approval.Of 20,000 km, NHAI proposes to two-lane not more than 5,000 km and plans to do it on build-operate-transfer (BOT) toll basis. While NHAI has been trying for some time now to get consultants for NHDP IV for conducting feasibility studies, it has not met with any success. The uncertainty of two-laned highways being tolled also seems to have caused NHAI's disinterest in NHDP IV.Of the 66,574 km of national highways, 32 per cent are still single-lane which means that effectively 20,000 km of NHs are very narrow. While NHAI has asked the Planning Commission for an additional Rs 3,000 crore to two-lane non-NHDP single-lane national highways, NHDP IV is no longer high on their agenda.
