(a) whether the Government has announced incentives to encourage private sector participation in road construction;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there is any plan to revive private investments in developing highways in the country, if so, the details thereof ; and
(d) whether any review has been undertaken to examine the problems faced by private investors involved in the developing highways in the country, if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI PON. RADHAKRISHNAN)
(a) No, Madam.
(b) Does not arise.
(c) and (d) Government has identified all languishing and stalled National Highway (NH) projects being implemented on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode of delivery only. Some of these projects have been cancelled/ terminated and the letter of award has been withdrawn and thereafter these projects have been re-structured for re-bidding. Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have taken a number of steps for speedy completion of NH projects including streamlining of the process of land acquisition and other statutory clearances, harmonious substitution of Concessionaire, re-schedulement of Premium quoted by concessionaires, getting Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to treat road sector loans as secured, introduction of revamped dispute resolution mechanism and close coordination with other ministries etc. Apart from these steps, Government is also considering many other initiatives to complete some of these languishing PPP projects.