Stakeholders' view elicited on regulator for road sector

The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways C P Joshi has said that his Ministry is discussing with stakeholders about the proposal to set up a regulator for the sector and would move a note to the Cabinet after taking their view.

The Minister on April 23 said that the Ministry has discussed it with the stakeholders and now after gathering their views the ministry will formulate a note for the Cabinet, he said. The proposed road regulator is likely to be a three-member body comprising representatives from Road Ministry, Finance Ministry, Law Ministry and Planning Commission.

The key functions of the proposed regulator are likely to be tariff setting, regulation of service quality, assessment of concessionaire claims, collection and dissemination of sector information, service-level benchmarks and monitoring compliance of concession agreements, among others. At present, NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) along with the Road Ministry awards road projects.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech had said that the road construction sector is facing challenges, including financial stress, enhanced construction risk and contract management issues.