The month of December has been very intense concerning the National Highways Development Programme in India.The most important news were the following:

• In a bid to make the ongoing national highways projects attractive to the bidders, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on last Friday approved the new, upward revised project costs for 6 key projects and their sub-projects. The CCEA has also approved a move to increase the concession period for some projects to allow for toll collection for longer durations. Now, the CCEA has allowed longer concession periods of 20 to 30 years for some projects.

• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded three projects worth Rs.2,150 crore ($430 million) on a revenue sharing model basis. The projects which are part of National Highways Development Programme, phase III include - 60 km Gonde-Nashik-Pimpalgaon stretch worth Rs.752 crore ($150.4 million), 97 km MP-Maharashtra border Dhule project costing Rs.675 crore ($135 million), and 58 km Kishangarh-Beawar worth Rs.724 crore ($144.8 million). The names of the bidders who have bagged these projects are yet to be disclosed by NHAI.

• The NHAI had invited requests-for-proposal (RFPs) for 20 highway projects. Of these, only seven could receive financial bids from eligible highway developers, sources said. Below you can see some these known projects that did not receive any bid.

• The firm Reliance Infrastructure was the main player of the week in the infrastructure market in India as it was the only bidder for the Eastern Peripheral Expressway project, entailing an investment of Rs 2,676 crore ($535,2 million). It also was one of the two bids that Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has received for the Worli-Haji Ali sea link project. But even better for the group was the news announcing that it was the selected bidder for the four-laning of the Gurgoan-Faridabad road and the upgrading of Ballabgarh-Sohana road.Following you can see all the NHDP's updates in a spreadsheet that I will update with the most important projects in India: