Credit ratings agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has said that participation from the private sector in the government’s ambitious Bharatmala project may be challenging, because of the stressed balance sheets of many infrastructure developers. For the Bharatmala Pariyojana project, the second biggest highway development programme after the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP), the government expects private participation through a public-private partnership (PPP) of about Rs 1.06 trillion.
As per the rating agency, faster land acquisitions, environment clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and timely funding will be crucial for the completion of Bharatmala project by fiscal 2021-22. It also said that measures such as enhancement of approval limit of projects by the NHAI to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 1,000 crore, increase in compensation rates to farmers under the new land acquisition policy and digitalisation of land acquisitions would expedite projects under Bharatmala.
Ind-Ra observed that since most of the projects are to be constructed in remote areas, mobilisation of equipment and raw materials would be challenging. It further said that the government announcement of construction of about 83,677 km of roads or nearly 45 km per day, including Bharatmala, over the next five years, would require a vast improvement in pre-bidding completion procedures to bring the project until the bidding stage. The programme will incur a capex of Rs 6.92 trillion; of this Phase-1 of Bharatmala will incur capex of Rs 5.35 trillion.
The rating agency also pointed out some of the major issues of the projects awarded through public-private partnership under NHDP phases, were delay in land acquisitions and obtaining statutory approvals and clearances, aggressive bidding and difficulties in forecasting traffic volumes led to a decline in private sector participation in the road sector.
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