New government’s focus on र12,000cr road projects

The road sector might well be the first to see action from the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has readied plans for र12,000-13,000 crore projects, including the र6,500-crore Delhi-Meerut expressway project to be undertaken with private investment.

These projects are to expand roads into two- and four-lane ones and spread those across Odisha, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Delhi-Meerut expressway project, where 27km of 150km is to have 16 lanes, is being bid out under the BOT (build-operate-transfer) model.