The public-private partnership appraisal committee has granted approval to 21 highway projects costing Rs 28,302.71 crore (Rs 283.02 billion) under the national highway development programme.
These projects are spread over 11 states in the country and will be executed under the build-operate and transfer basis.
The government had planned to complete the bidding process and award the final contract for these projects by December 2008.
An official from the National Highway Authority of India said, "Now that PPPAC had given approval to these 21 highway projects, we will be speeding up the bidding process."
Major highway projects among them include 196 km Vijayawada-Eluru- Rajmundray costing Rs 2,426.65 crore (Rs 24.26 billion) in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 2,588.38 crore (Rs 25.88 billion) Varanasi -Aurangabad highway project in Uttar Pradesh and Rs 3,076.38 crore (Rs 30.76 billion) Kishangarh-Udaipur highway stretch in Rajasthan.
Since its constitution in January 20006, the PPPAC has granted approval to 87 projects, with an estimated project cost of Rs 89,891.12 crore (Rs 898.91 billion).
These include 77 highway project, six port projects, two airport projects among others.