Govt looking at Chinese, Malaysian infra firms to get stuck highway projects started
With several highway projects failing to find any takers in India, the Union Government is hopeful that the stuck highway projects in the country will probably be rescued by international infrastructure firms, especially those based in China and Malaysia.
Towards that end, India’s Road Transport and Highways Ministry – which is headed by Nitin Gadkari – has initiated discussions with some Chinese and Malaysian infrastructure companies. The talks with these companies are essentially aimed at persuading them to bid for some highway projects in fresh tenders which will be floated in the near future.
The highway projects for which the Ministry is trying to get international infrastructure firms to bid, so that the projects can get started, include the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Delhi-Meerut highway. In all, there are nearly seven projects – worth Rs 3,400 crore – which had been bid out by the previous government, but failed to find any takers.
With regard to the talks initiated with Chinese and Malaysian infrastructure firms, a senior government official said: “We are trying to gauge the interest of these companies in some of these projects, so we can float a tender soon.”
However, asserting that the talks with international infrastructure firms are currently in the preliminary phase, the official refrained from divulging the names of the companies which have been approached by the Roads Ministry
Source – The Economic Times
Chinese and Malaysian infrastructure, Delhi-Meerut highway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, international infrastructure firms, Malaysian infra firms, Nitin gadkari, road transport and highways ministry, Union government
