In a first, the road transport ministry is firming up plans to upgrade around 10,000 km of national highways across the country in two years. The upgrade will be done under road maintenance programme funded by the government through Gross Budgetary Support. The upgrade or recarpeting of the roads will cost Rs 60 lakh per km and will be a part of the Improvement of Road Quality Programme. “This plan is over the upgrade of 4,000 km of national highways to two-lane already planned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),” said a top road transport ministry official, on condition of anonymity. At present, the maintenance of road is done by state public welfare departments of the states while the road transport ministry transfers funds to the respective states. Another official explained that the government plans to take around 10,000 km of roads at an outlay of around Rs 6,000 crore in two years. Discussions are also on to find ways to link the Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) model, instead of item rate contract, to upgrade these roads,” said a senior ministry official, on condition of anonymity. The EPC model ensures completion of road development in a fixed time period whereas item rate contract does not specify the time period. The official said that the plan is to award projects for upgrade in larger size of, say, 100 km instead of 10-15 km length projects that are being awarded now. The road transport ministry, through National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), also plans to upgrade around 4,000 km of roads to two-lane with paved shoulders under EPC. The roads authority targets to award these projects during the current fiscal.