The Indian government announced approving eight projects, envisaging an expenditure of INR 10883.89 crore, in the highways sector. The projects, approved during the meeting of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee are located in Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Haryana.

An official statement said that “The 28th PPPAC meeting, chaired by Finance Secretary Mr Ashok Chawla met on October 16th 2009 and granted approval to eight projects of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. These projects are in three states.”

The Committee, which was constituted in January 2006 has so far approved 135 projects with a total cost of INR 137025.62 crore including 122 highways projects. The statement added that “These include national highways 122 projects, ports 9 projects, airports 2 projects, tourism infrastructure 1 project and railways 1 project.”

The eight highways development projects approved by the PPPAC include six in Jammu and Kashmir and one each in Karnataka and Haryana.

The J&K projects include INR 971 crore scheme for four laning of Qazigund to Banihal section, INR 1,987 crore scheme for strengthening and four-laning of Ramban to Banihal section, INR 986 crore for rehabilitation and strengthening of four-laning of Udhampur to Ramban section.

(Sourced from BL)