NHAI to come out with guidelines on TOT model soon

In the first phase of monetising highway projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is expecting to generate up to Rs 200 billion from 30-40 projects. NHAI is currently working on the guidelines for the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model, under which the investor will collect toll and be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the project. The corpus generated from these proceeds will be utilised towards laying 15,000 km of national highways in the current fiscal year. The monetisation of projects will be undertaken in a selective manner to encourage the entry of private players that bring in operating and managerial efficiencies and at the same time provide the requisite fund support. DPRs are being prepared with traffic studies, revenue streams and the overall viability of projects. To make highway projects more lucrative for private investors, the government is also allowing bundling of these projects so that a bidder can take up a portfolio of projects. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has asked NHAI to identify project bundles soon to start the bidding process.