Prime Minister's Office is likely to take a final call on appointing a regular chief for NHAI with Road Transport and Highways Ministry forwarding the list of 71 contenders for the top post including 27 bureaucrats to it, an official said.
"We are awaiting a directive from the PMO for appointment on the post of Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). We have already forwarded the list to the PMO which will take a call on it," a senior Road Ministry official told PTI.
The top job at NHAI, which has ambitious plans to award projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore under NHDP.
As many as 27 IAS officers, some of them as senior as State Chief Secretary, are vying for this coveted position.
IAS officers form a good number even as the government has come out with a fresh formula - as desired by Highways Minister C P Joshi - that paves way for appointment of technocrats like 'Metroman' E Sreedharan.
The position of a full-time Chairman at NHAI fell vacant in August, 2010 after the retirement of Brijeshwar Singh. At present, Road Transport Secretary A K Upadhyay is holding this additional charge.
The government is on a hunt for a regular chief at NHAI, the highways regulator. NHAI will implement ambitious road projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore under the flagship road building programme National Highways Development Project (NHDP).
The government in January had come out with fresh criteria that paves the way for appointing a technocrat or an executive from the private sector as the head of the highways regulator.
Calling for applications, the government has said that, "a full-time Director on the Board of a Schedule ''A'' Central PSU...engaged primarily in infrastructure or ... a CEO or Director in a public or private sector infrastructure entity, having a net worth of not less than Rs 2,000 crore" can now qualify for the top job in addition to GoI Secretary.
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