Bharatmala project cost doubles
Steep rise in input costs, increase in land acquisition costs pushing overall cost to Rs10.64 lakh cr from Rs 5.35 cr earlier: Icra
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New Delhi: The project cost under the Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) programme has more than doubled to Rs10.64 lakh crore owing to the steep rise in input costs and an increase in land acquisition costs, rating agency ICRA said on Monday.
Bharatmala Pariyojana is the largest highway infrastructure programme in India which aims at the development of 34,800 kilometres of national highway corridors at an investment of Rs5.35 lakh crore.
“Pending the Cabinet approval for the revised cost of Bharatmala Phase-l, project awarding activity in the recent quarters took a beating, declining by 48 per cent YoY to 2,595 km during 7mFY2024 compared to 5,007 km during 7mFY2023,” it said.
The figures are for the first seven months of this fiscal compared to the year-ago period. ICRA said it expects the awarding activity to contract over 30 per cent YoY (Year-on-Year) in FY2024.
Giving more insights, Ashish Modani, V-P & co-group head at Icra, said: “Almost 95 per cent of the road awards by the Ministry of Roads and Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in the last five years were awarded through the hybrid annuity mode (HAM) and EPC route, wherein the entire funding burden lay on the ministry.”
