Highway projects to open up Rs 42K-cr infra biz

New Delhi : NHAI to award 7,994-km highway projects in the current financial year; steel, cement and bitumen companies to benefit most. Consumption of cement, steel, and bitumen is to get a boost of Rs 42,000 crore, as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced to award 7,994 km of highway projects in the current financial year.

“In road building, 70 per cent is used in buying raw material, around 20 per cent goes in labour cost and the rest goes into machines,” said a World Bank official, who did not want to be identified. The official added that this was also bound to increase the country’s import bill because cement and bitumen are imported from countries like Bangladesh and Iran.