West Asia war takes toll on highway builders as prices start to bite

NEW DELHI: Senior executives of some of the highway construction companies told TOI that the increase has started impacting the road construction cost as bitumen and fuel expenses are around 30% of the project cost. “Since the commercial diesel price is revised from time to time, we are worried whether there will be another round of hike in the next fortnight since there is no sign of any end to the Iran-Israel-US war,” said one of the executives.He added that the discount offered prior to the war has been nullified on bitumen which was in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per tonne.Recently, the National Highway Builders Federation (NHBF) had flagged the issues at a meeting with NHAI. “Sharp escalation in fuel costs is impacting operation of plants at sites…We have no option but to seek govt intervention as the overall cost escalation due to these factors is beyond the normal contractual provisions,” said a representative of NHBF.