NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has received upfront consideration of ₹5,011 crore on Monday from Cube Highways, under the third bundle of the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model.
The award ceremony was conducted via video conferencing and was chaired by road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, minister of state General VK Singh and NHAI chairman Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.
Last year, the highway authority had put up nine stretches of roads, totalling 566 km across, and comprising nine toll plaza across Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, in the third round of TOT.
TOT is part of the government’s initiative to monetize public infrastructure and build new assets. Under this model, the highest bidder wins the right to operate and maintain highway assets for 30 years. The one who wins the bid garners toll revenue during that time period.
“The concession period is 30 years and the concessionaire shall operate, maintain and collect the toll during the concession period,” an official statement said.
The first round of TOT in February, 2018 was a success. The winning bidder Macquarie offered ₹9,691 crore for 700 km highways. However, NHAI cancelled the second bundle that was spread over 584 km over four states as the bids that were received were far below the expectation.
Currently, NHAI is in the process of awarding more stretches under TOT for monetization of its public funded projects. Last month, it invited bids for the fifth set of projects, while cancelling the fourth bundle.
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