Road projects worth Rs 13k cr awarded under PPP this fiscal

New Delhi : At a time when PPP projects in highways sector had taken a backseat, government’s renewed focus on it has revived developers interest with projects worth about Rs 13,500 crore either awarded or in advanced stages of finalisation this fiscal so far. In sharp contrast, barely Rs 6,300 crore projects could be awarded in 2014-15; while the number of projects awarded was only two in 2013-14.            “Over-leveraged financials due to excessive exposure to highways and other infrastructure projects, equity crunch, constraints like banks reaching the ceiling as per sectoral exposure norms coupled with regulatory and other hurdles had resulted in developers shying away from PPP projects but continued efforts to boost the sector have revived their interest,” an official told PTI.