Key Highlights :
1. The government is planning a new bidding model for the upgradation of existing highways into electric highways, two people aware of the development said.
2. The new model, called AHEM, involves a public-private partnership (PPP) mode of services.
3. Charging stations on these highways will operate in the PPP mode, equally owned by government entities, private companies and local residents whose land is used to build the highway and the infrastructure.
4. The model was framed by National Highways for EVs (NHEVs), a pilot programme run by Ease of Doing Business, a technology piloting agency of the government.
5. Under the pilot programme, charging infrastructure has been created on the Delhi-Agra route (Yamuna Expressway) and the Delhi-Jaipur route (NH-8).
6. A report on the trials is expected to be submitted soon.
7. Abhijeet Sinha, national programme director at Ease of Doing Business, said: “If this model is successful in showing the profitability e-mobility creates, it is more than success. The model would show the pattern (for future projects). So far, there was no model to fund electric infra on highways. As this is based on annuity, this model is good enough to give confidence to investors."
8. “Successful trial runs on the two stretches have given confidence for going ahead with this model across the country," the second official cited above said.
The Union government is planning a new bidding model for the upgradation of existing highways into electric highways, two people aware of the development said.
Continue Reading at Source : livemint