India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for development of three roads PPP projects.

All the projects will be developed under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV. The three approvals are in build, operate and transfer (BOT - Toll) mode on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis.

The three road PPP projects are the following:

• The four laning of the Nagina-Kashipur section of National Highway - 74 in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The cost is estimated to be Rs14.71 billion (US$237.7 million) including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 99 km.

• The four laning of the Singhara-Binjabahal section of National Highway - 6 in Odisha. The cost is estimated to be Rs10.77 billion (US$174.1 million) including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 104 km

• The four laning of the Lucknow-Sultanpur section of National Highway - 56 in Uttar Pradesh. The cost is estimated to be Rs13.25 billion (US$214.2 million) including the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 126 km.

The development of these projects will help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of the concerned regions of the State and would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. Implementation of these projects will help in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic.

Two days ago we reported that NHAI had received 15-16 bids for the road PPP project to expand the Delhi-Panipat expressway. The BOT project t involves the widening of the road to 12 lanes. The total project investment is estimated at Rs20 billion (US$323 million).