Concerned over the slow pace of road development due to various policy bottlenecks, the government has decided to form an empower group of ministers (EGoM) to speed up the highways development projects. The members of the EGoM, which will help resolving issues related to the bidding process, include Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and road transport minister, Kamal Nath.

According to sources, the forming of the EGoM is as per the recommendations of an expert panel formed by the Prime Minister to suggest measures to expedite the flagship National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). The development of road projects in the country has been slow in the past as of the proposed 60 highway projects to be awarded in last fiscal, nodal agency NHAI could award only eight and several projects failed to receive any bid while others received only one bid. The NHAI managed to spend only about 30 per cent of its total expenditure budget of nearly Rs. 32,000 crore during the fiscal.

They said adding that the EGoM will have powers to fine tune regulation and even change the bidding norms for the road projects if the secretary level inter ministerial committee headed by the road transport secretary fails to address the issue. The government has proposed to free road development from maintenance by removing the exit clause from the concession agreement. The move will allow road developers to exit from the project once the works are completed, this way the country would earn profit by selling tolling and maintenance of a highway stretch to another project, they added.