The National Highways Authority of India will soon invite bids for a cumulative 400 km of road stretches as it seeks to raise around Rs 4,000 crore.
This will the fourth bundle of toll-operate-transfer (TOT) projects, and the second to be offered in the current financial year.
The NHAI, which is working aggressively on its asset monetisation drive, has appraised the road stretches to be offered in Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, and a proposal for bids is likely to be out in October, an official said, asking not to be identified.
“We have appraised the stretches, and the base value of the projects should be around Rs 4,000 crore,” the official said.
This could also be the last round of TOT auctions in the current financial year, as the third round of auctions are still underway.
The government had introduced the TOT model in 2016 for monetisation of publicly-funded highways. Under this, investors make a one-time lump sum payment in return for long-term toll collection rights.
NHAI had in June this year invited bids for nine national highway stretches for a cumulative length of 566 km, looking to raise a minimum of Rs 4,995 crore. The projects are spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
While the government’s maiden round of monetisation of road assets was a massive success, fetching it around Rs 10,000 crore against the base value of Rs 6,258 crore, the second tranche of TOT auctions were scrapped in February this year as response frominvestors remained tepid.
“We are expecting much better response on TOT 3,” the official said. Incidentally, the bid submission dates for the third round of auctions have been postponed twiceas investors seek more time for bid evaluation, the government claims.
The bid for the fourth tranche of TOT auctions will be floated in October, a second official said.
NHAI chairman NN Sinha had in August said that NHAI has completed studies for 5,000 km of road assets, which could be monetised, and the authority could potentially offer around 15,000 km of road stretches by the FY25.
Instead of offering road projects in large bundles, the authority is now experimenting to offer bundles of average size of 500 km to attract smaller investors. NHAI is also looking to reduce the concession period for TOT projects to 15-20 years from 30 years at present.
