Will stick to EPC in road projects for now: Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: The government is focusing on entirely state-funded projects for road development at the moment because that will help in faster monetisation of projects, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has said.

“We will do more of EPCNSE -1.11 % projects at the moment,” Gadkari told ET in a brief interaction. With the ministry’s priority being monetisation of assets, engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) — which is entirely funded by the government —is the preferred mode of project award, he said.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has set itself a target of awarding 4,500 km of road projects in the current financial year. While the 1,700 km projects awarded this year are on EPC mode, projects with cumulative length of around 2,000 km are to be awarded on the hybrid annuity model (HAM).