India eyes record road expansion

A A

Agencies: New Delhi, Jun 17 2011, 17:44 IST

India will award a record 7,300 kms of road building contracts this year worth about $12 billion, as a huge privatisation drive makes developers more willing to take on projects and foreign funds eager to invest, a top official at the National Highways Authority of India said on Friday.

* Investments in road sector to rise 40 percent in FY12: official

* India to meet target of building 20 kms a day by 2014: official

* Reforms, maturing sector attracting investors: official

The new contracts will help India meet its target of building 20 kms of roads per day as part of a massive overhaul of its infrastructure sector, boosting the country's economic growth, said J.N. Singh, member (finance) at the NHAI.

Compared to the last 4-5 years, the sector has substantially matured, Singh told Reuters in an interview.

Whichever side of India you go, you will see road building at a very hectic pace going on right now.

Overseas private funds such as the UK-based 3i and Morgan Stanley are showing a greater appetite for investing in projects while domestic constructors are getting more and more capable of taking on big projects, he said.

INVESTOR FRIENDLY REFORMS

Investments in India's road-building with the NHAI will rise about 40 percent to $10 billion in this fiscal year compared to the last, Singh said, of which about 60 percent will come from private funds.

NHAI will also aim to raise at least $445 million in bonds in the same period, he said.

An uptick in interest will give

... contd.

Ads by Google

Single Page Format

1 | 2 | 3 | Next