PM Narendra Modi sure knows how to keep Nitin Gadkari on his toes

Officials at Nitin Gadkari-led Road Transport and Highways Ministry are busy preparing a presentation, enlisting initiatives taken by it, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will review highway projects on July 2.

"We have taken conscious steps to deal with the challenges the road sector is facing. We are seeing results in the bidding trends already," a senior government official told Economic Times.

The Road Minister is going to receive bids for around 700 km stretch of projects worth Rs 9,200 crore.

For highway sector in the current fiscal, the government allocated Rs 42,913 crore, up from Rs 28,881 crore in 2014-15.

"There is a lot of action and new projects are coming up for bids. Some small hurdles are left which are also being sorted out now," said Satish Parakh, managing director of Ashoka Buildcon, told the financial daily.

For the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)-toll projects, the government has given a nod to the exit policy, which allows an operator to move out of a project two years after the completion.

Meanwhile, the government has also invited investors from Spain, Malaysia and Japan to participate in projects under its latest hybrid annuity model.

(Image: Reuters)