The
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the revised cost estimate of
Rs.2288.06 crore for the National Automotive Testing
and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) in place of the original approved
cost estimate of Rs.1718 crore. The budget escalation of Rs.570.96 crore,
includes Rs.427.29 crore by way of grant and
Rs.142.77 crore as loan as a part of the revised cost
estimate of Rs.2288.06 crore. The revised cost estimate of Rs.2288 crore includes the additional loan component of Rs.95.51 crore to be provided to offset the lower recovery of the
user charges from Rs.118 crore (originally envisaged)
to Rs.22.49 crore during the project period.
The CCEA has revised the completion
date as 31st December, 2012 from the earlier approved completion
date of 30th September, 2011.
The CCEA further approved the
following:
a. The
additional loan sanctioned to the project will be interest free, with
moratorium of seven years and to be repaid in eight annual installments
thereafter.
b. Reallocation
of Rs.510 crore, originally under Grant from Auto Cess to Grant from Plan fund, without any additional financial
implications.
c. The Governing
Council, NATRIP Implementation Society / GB National Automotive Board
(proposed) will prioritize the allocation, centre
wise, during 2011-12 and 2012-13 taking into account the availability of
budgetary provision and the pace of ongoing works and also decide 'the
allocation of user charges, as also the apportionment of loan to the various centers. Further, Vehicle Research &
Development Establishment’s (VRDE) portion of the user charges may be offset
against VRDE's share of loan repayment.
The
completion of project will ensure that full bouquet of automotive testing and
R&D facilities are available for introduction of higher emission and safety
norms by 2015. This will contribute to
lowering of vehicular emissions and improve vehicle safety. The Project will also lead to manifold
increase in the growth of the automotive sector and its contribution to
national economy.
Background:
NATRIP, the flagship project of Department of Heavy
Industry (DHI), was approved by the CCEA in July, 2005, with a total investment of Rs.1718 Cr, for up-gradation of
three existing automotive testing and
R&D centers viz. (VRDE) at Ahmednagar, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) at Pune and International Centre for Automotive Technology
(ICAT) at Manesar and for setting up of four greenfield centers at Chennai,
Indore, Silchar and Rae Bareilly for automotive
testing, homologation and R&D. Once completed these centres would house 'state of the art' facilities and enable ushering in latest automobile
regulations; both for safety and emissions. The project faced initial hurdles,
mainly on account of delays in acquisition of land at various sites, delays in
clearances, shifting of utilities etc. These factors have necessitated revision
in the scheduled completion dates and cost escalation. Most of these hurdles
have now been resolved and the project is
expected to be completed by December 2012.
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