India seeks USD 3-bn World Bank aid for widening highways

Bangalore, Nov 25 : India has approached the World Bank for $3 billion to fund widening of 7,000-km single-lane national highways into double lanes, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said Wednesday.

"We have applied to the World Bank for $3 billion ($2.97 billion) for building double lanes on 7,000 km of national highways, which have single lanes. Funds are not a constraint for the highway projects till 2010-11," Kamal Nath told reporters here.

To accelerate the pace of constructing highways across the country, the minister said the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has set a target of completing 20 km per day from March 2010 so as to build 7000 km per year.

"We have started doing 7-8 km per day from 2-3 km a day earlier. The immediate goal is to scale up the construction pace to achieve 20 km per day and keep doing it consistently," Kamal Nath said on the margins of a trade event.

As a caveat to meet the target of 20 km per day, he said the state governments would have to help NHAI in land acquisition, shifting of utilities and building amenities along the highways.

"We are creating an enabling situation to ensure the contractors meet the set target so that we can avoid invoking the penalty clause or levy fine for delays. There are a number of issues involved, including land acquisition, which is the biggest challenge," Kamal Nath said.

"I have been very clear about the target. If state governments are not going to be pro-active in doing their part, then I will have no choice but to abandon the project," he asserted.

Allaying fears over bidders raising funds to fund the highway projects, Kamal Nath said infrastructure financing was sound and in case of roads, which are an asset-creation, mobilising resources would not be a problem despite pre- and post-construction risks.

Earlier, inaugurating the fifth international construction equipment and construction technology trade fair (Excon 2009) at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, the minister said overcoming the infrastructure deficit was critical to achieve and maintain a high economic growth rate of 8-9 percent.

"Though India has the world's second largest road connectivity with 3.4-million km, about 40 percent is carried by national highways, representing only 2 percent of the total network," he said.