The National Highways Authority of India(NHAI) on Friday said it awarded toll, operate and transfer (TOT) Bundle 16 to Highway Infrastructure Trust for Rs 6,661 crore. TOT Bundle-16 is a 251 km long stretch on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor of NH-44 in Telangana, the ministry of road transport and highways said.
“The concession period of TOT bundle is for 20 years in which the concessionaire will be required to maintain and operate the stretch. In lieu of this, concessionaire will collect and retain user fees for the stretch in accordance with prescribed fee rates under NH Fee Rules,” it added.
According to the ministry, the TOT model has been developed to encourage private participation in the highway sector.In FY 2023-24, NHAI awarded four TOT bundles worth Rs 15,968 crore against the monetization target of Rs 10,000 crores for the previous financial year.
“TOT has been instrumental in unlocking the value of the road network and has immensely contributed towards the development of the national highway network in the country,” NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav said.
In line with the National Monetization Plan, NHAI’s total asset monetization program has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore which includes Rs 48,995 crore through TOT, Rs 25,900 crore through InvIT and Rs 42,000 crore through securitization.
In December last year, the NHAI awarded TOT Bundle 13 to IRB Infrastructure Trust for Rs 1,683 crore and TOT Bundle 14 to Cube Highways for Rs 7,701 crore.
The government’s National Monetisation Pipeline has laid out a roadmap to monetise assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore, out of which about Rs 1.60 lakh crore would be from monetisation of road assets between 2021-22 and 2024-25
