The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in the first 100 of the formation of the next government, could unveil a mega plan for building 50,000 km of new, access-controlled, expressways by 2037 to help reduce logistic costs.
The programme is expected to replace the Bharatmala scheme and will sync all future road projects with the government’s Vision 2047 for the sector. Besides, the government is considering satellite- or GPS-based tolling on select stretches by replacing FASTags to do away with wait time at toll plazas, and rolling out a cashless treatment facility for all road accident victims.
The first 100 days of the new government will see the ministry laying down short-, medium- and long-term targets across the identified areas as part of the comprehensive development of India’s road transport sector, a senior government official said.
“The road ministry has aligned its future projects to Vision 2047 and, going forward, a majority of road projects will be bid out on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode with greater participation of the private sector,” the official said.
The ministry had recently notified changes to the model concession agreements for both BOT and TOT (toll-operate-transfer) modes of projects, making them simpler and investor friendly to attract private investments.
“The idea is to reduce logistic costs in India, decongest India’s roads and make the road infrastructure experience world-class, befitting a developed nation,” the official added.
According to the official, the entire plan for awarding new projects is already in place and the ministry is waiting for the go-ahead on Vision 2047, after which it will start calling bids.
Besides, the ministry will continue to focus on asset monetisation and aims to garner in excess of Rs 40,000 crore through infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and securitisation in 2024-25.
The plan is also to nudge Indian enterprises to set up vehicle scrapping centres and doling out incentives to vehicle owners to opt for scrapping of their old vehicles as part of the government’s push to circular economy.
The 2024-25 interim budget has allocated Rs 2,78,000 crore for road, transport and highways as against Rs 2,70,434.71 crore initially allocated for 2023-24. The revised allocation for 2023-24 was Rs 2,76,351.45 crore.