Gadkari offers 1,50,000 km of electric highways on BOT model

According to Gadkari, India’s logistics costs, currently around 13-14 percent of the country’s GDP, could drop to as little as three percent once electric highways become available.

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways in India (MoRTH), asked the auto industry to collaborate with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to create 1,50,000 km of electrified highways.

He stated this in a fireside talk with Autocar India Editor Hormazd Sorabjee at ACMA’s 63rd Annual Session held in Delhi today.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer I am making to the domestic auto industry and component makers to partner in the development of building electric highways,” he said, adding that he would try to ensure that the rate of power will be Rs 3 per unit as opposed to Rs 12 per km, which the industry is currently incurring,” Gadkari said.

According to the Road Transport Minister, the National Highways Authority of India, a MORTH initiative, will form a 51:49 percent joint venture with a private operator who will build, operate, and transfer (BOT) the road to NHAI, with both parties sharing revenue from toll collections.

“I can assure you that once India begins developing electric highways, the cost will be only 20% of what operators are currently paying, and it will completely energize the road transport network, resulting in a significant reduction in India’s overall logistics cost.”
According to Gadkari, India’s logistics costs, currently around 13-14 percent of the country’s GDP, could drop to as little as three percent once electric highways become available.

The Union government is developing a new Annuity Hybrid for E-Mobility (AHEM) model to coexist with the existing Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for bidding out motorways.

The model that is being worked on will have equal ownership by government agencies, private firms, and local inhabitants whose land is utilised to construct the highway and infrastructure.

The government also intends to operate electric buses and taxis on a PPP basis, with operators such as electric truck fleet management firms, e-buses, and e-taxis for passengers being far less expensive than their conventional counterparts, with the 300-km highway or motorway converted into an e-highway in 90 days with charging stations.

According to ICRA, approximately 105 HAM projects with bid project costs of Rs 1.22 trillion are scheduled to go live in the next two years.

Siemens AG, which focuses on electrification, automation, and digitalisation and is a leading supplier of power generation systems, has also submitted a proposal to MORTH for the construction of e-highways and e-corridors in the country, Autocar Professional has learned.

As part of the electric highway project, my government intends to install overhead electric cables similar to those used on a railway line on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway and the Nagpur Ring Road,” added the MoRTH minister.

“Trolleybuses running between Delhi and Jaipur would use the cabling and return to Delhi after going around the ring road in Jaipur,” he explained. Gadkari stated this during a discussion of his thoughts on the subject.

Previously, Gadkari stated in a parliamentary session that the government is attempting to establish a separate “e-highway” on the 1,300-kilometre-long Delhi-Mumbai Motorway, where trucks and buses can travel at 120 kilometres per hour.

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