June 21, 2024: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to offer 15 road projects worth Rs 44,000 crore covering 937 km during the current financial year under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) came out with a modified BOT project document to attract private companies for investments in the highways sector.
These stretches include Guwahati Ring road including Brahmaputra Bridge in Assam (project cost Rs 5,500 crore), Kasarwadi-Rajgurunagar in Maharashtra (Rs 5,954 crore), Pune-Shirur road project in Maharashtra (Rs 6,170 crore) and Armoor-Mancherial road project in Telangana (Rs 3,175 crore), among others.
In BOT projects, private investors take the financing, building and operating a highway project over a concession period of 20-30 years. The developer then recoups investment through user charges or tolls.
The changes in BOT projects introduced earlier this year include construction support to concessionaires to complete them on time and longer tolling period to cover losses due to competing roads.
| Got any questions or point of view on our article? We would love to hear from you. Write to our Editor-in-Chief Jhumur Ghosh at jhumur.ghosh1@housing.com |