NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Friday assured highways builders that adequate supplies of fuel, bitumen and other essential inputs would be maintained amid concerns over a likely fall in availability of bitumen and increase in fuel prices.Highway builders, in a meeting with NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav, flagged that the prolonged conflict in West Asia is likely to impact project cost and even toll collection on stretches that get a high share of port-bound traffic. They also urged the highways authority to declare the prevailing situation as a force majeure event for highway projects to help them protect against revenue shortfall and extension of concession periods.Officials said the National Highway Builders Federation (NHBF) flagged several issues including possible increase in prices of essential inputs that could impact the pace of highways construction.“NHAI chairman said they are in continuous coordination with IOCL, which has confirmed sufficient stock availability of fuel and bitumen, with no major supply disruptions anticipated. He advised contractors to immediately approach NHAI regional offices and field authorities in case of supply disruptions,” said a person who attended the virtual meeting.Yadav assured developers that NHAI would coordinate with local administrative authorities to ensure uninterrupted material availability.The highway developers said they anticipated an increase in transportation cost on the back of increase in diesel price and rising input material costs are expected to escalate transportation expenses. They also suggested NHAI to reduce the price indexation lag from three months to one month to better reflect real-time market conditions and prevent under-compensation to contractors.