The government has scrapped the plan to go with public-private partnership (PPP) model for development of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) project, due to a lack of interest of investors in the road project.

The project, being undertaken by NHAI, is estimated to cost Rs 6,284.20 crore. The 135 km road project covers the districts of Sonepat, Faridabad, and Palwal in Haryana; and Baghpat, Gautam Budh Nagar, and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

NHAI has not received a single bid for the project before the 4 April, 2014 deadline and the project will now be developed in the conventional engineering procurement construction (EPC) mode.

At the time of RfQs, five firms -- IL&FS Transportation Networks, Reliance Infrastructure, Srei Infrastructure Finance, Uniquest Infra, and IRB Infrastructure Developers showed interest to develop the project. But later all the firms developed cold feet. It was the fifth time that the EPE was put out for bidding.

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