MoRTH plans to raise Rs 150 billion from EPFO

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is planning to raise Rs 150 billion from the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to fund its highway construction programme. It plans to issue National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) bonds to the EPFO in three tranches at an interest rate of 8.35 per annum. The amount raised will be used for highway expansion and bypass construction projects. MoRTH has set a highway construction target of 15,000 km for 2017-18 for which it requires at least Rs 1 trillion. It has received a budgetary allocation of only Rs 670 billion so far.