NHAI awards two highway projects for Rs 6,584 crore

New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Sunday said it has awarded two highway projects with a combined length of 400 km under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model for Rs 6,584 crore. The two bundles (11 and 12) consist of Allahabad bypass on NH19 in Uttar Pradesh and the Lalitpur Sagar-Lakhnadon section in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, informed NHAI in an official statement.

According to the statement by NHAI, the TOT bundle 11 for the 84 km long Allahabad bypass on NH19 in Uttar Pradesh has been awarded to Cube Highways and Infrastructure Limited for Rs 2,156 crore. TOT bundle 12 for the 316 km long Lalitpur Sagar-Lakhnadon section passing through Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh has been awarded to IRB Infrastructure Trust for Rs 4,428 crore, it added.

The first round of bids for the two bundles was called -off and the bids were re-invited, the statement said, adding that in the second round, NHAI received Rs 553 crore higher bids than in the first round.

NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav said "the government has been very supportive and encouraging to achieve the national monetisation targets. The contract period of TOT is for 20 years in which concessionaires would be required to maintain and operate the stretch."

In lieu of this, the concessionaire will collect and retain user fees for these stretches in accordance with prescribed fee rates under NH Fee Rules. The TOT model has been developed to encourage private participation in the highway sector. NHAI, from time to time, has awarded contracts for tolling, operation and maintenance of various National Highway stretches on a toll operate transfer (TOT) basis.

According to the statement, the TOT Bundle-I, consisting of nine projects totalling 681 km of National Highways in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat was awarded in 2018. Till now, NHAI has monetised 1,614 km of projects for Rs 26,366 crore (excluding ToT bundle 11 and 12) through ToT and 636 km of projects for Rs 10,200 crore through InVIT, it added.

Meanwhile, IRB Infrastructure, in another statement, said this award takes the company's asset base to Rs 75,000 crore. "IRB Infrastructure Trust (Private InvIT) receives the Letter of Award (LoA) from NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) for Rs 4,428 crore Lalitpur-Lakhnadon NH 44, TOT-12 project for the revenue linked concession of 20 years," the statement said.

The Trust recently emerged as a preferred bidder for the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model for the revenue-linked concession of 20 years, which marked the IRB Group's entry into Madhya Pradesh. IRB Infrastructure Developers Chairman and Managing Director Virendra D Mhaiskar said, "We are proud to take our footprint to Madhya Pradesh, the 12th one for us by adding this prestigious project to our portfolio. This has taken our asset base to Rs 75,000 crore in Amrit Kaal and share in TOT space to 42 per cent, the largest by any private player in India".

The TOT-12 project from Lalitpur to Lakhnadon is the single largest major highway link of 316 Kms (1,264 Lane Kms) between Srinagar in the North and Kanyakumari in the South, NHAI concluded in an official statement.

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