The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited bids for monetisation of three bundles of road stretches through Toll Operate Transfer (ToT) mode at one go, in line with the asset monetisation strategy released last month.
The strategy had laid down that the NHAI will offer three bundles of highways for monetisation through ToT every quarter instead of two. There has also been a change in the way each ToT bundle has been designed.
Unlike previous 16 rounds of monetisation through ToT, this time each bundle has just one highway stretch on offer. While the length of highways offered on the three bundles range from 90 km to 145 km, the actual realisation from their monetisation would depend on toll collection from each highway and its potential in the next 20 years.
According to the strategy document, the three bundles that will be offered per quarter will include a smaller road stretch with the potential to bring in Rs 2,000 crore, a medium stretch that can bring in Rs 5,000 crore and a bigger one with the potential of Rs 9,000 crore.
In the ToT bundle 20, Muzzafarpur Darbanga- Asanpur section of NH-27 in Bihar, with a total length of 145.6 km, is on offer; while in bundle 21, Asanpur- Forbesganj Purnea section of NH-27 in Bihar, with a length of 139.3 km, has been offered. In bundle 22, Purnea-Dalkhola Raiganj section of NH-27 is being offered in Bihar and West Bengal, which has a length of 90.6 km.
Notably, the ToT tenders have been floated despite road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari saying that the government would no longer continue with ToT and instead rely largely on infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) for monetisation.
So far, 16 rounds of monetisation through ToT have been finalised since 2018-19 bringing in Rs 49,005 crore. The length of highways that has been handed over to concessionaires in lieu of this payment is 2689 km.
So far, 16 rounds of monetisation through ToT have been carried out. The bids for bundles 18 and 19 are also open. For bundle 17, bids had come but were yet to be opened.
Apart from monetisation through ToT, the NHAI has also set the ball rolling on asset transfer through InvITs. It has identified nine road stretches that will be monetised through National Highways Infrastructure Trust (NHIT).
The government is speeding up monetisation of highways as this sector is expected to contribute the most to the second national monetisation pipeline.
The pipeline will have a list of assets that will be monetised over the five-year period starting 2025. The potential receipts from the second pipeline has been pegged at Rs 10 lakh crore. Of the total, the highway sector is expected to contribute Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
This will require the NHAI to monetise assets of over Rs 50,000 crore every year for the next five years.