Budget 2013: Govt to form regulatory authority for road sector

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Centre has decided to constitute a regulatory authority for the road sector to remove hindrances that stall road projects.

The country’s road construction sector faces challenges like financial stress, enhanced construction risk and contract management issues, that are best addressed by an independent authority, Chidambaram said.

“Bottlenecks stalling road projects have been addressed and 3,000 km of road projects in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will be awarded in the first six months of 2013-14,” the finance minister said in Parliament in course of his Budget 2013-14 speech.

Focusing on connecting remote locations and developing cross-border connectivity, the Chidambaram said that multilateral development banks are in a mood to improve regional connectivity.

“Combining the ‘Look East’ policy and the interests of the North Eastern States, I propose to seek the assistance of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to build roads in the North Eastern States and connect them to Myanmar,” the minister said.

Chidambaram said that there was also the need to explore alternative transportation methods available in the country like the National Waterways.

“Five inland waterways have been declared as national waterways. I am happy to announce that the Minister of Water Resources will move a Bill in Parliament to declare the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch of river Barak in Assam as the sixth national waterway. Preparatory work is underway to build a grid connecting waterways, roads and ports,” he said.

“The 12th Plan has an adequate outlay for capital works, including dredging, on the national waterways. The objective is to choose barge operators, through competitive bidding, to transport bulk cargo on the national waterways. The first transport contract has been awarded in West Bengal from Haldia to Farakka,” the minister said.