MoRTH works towards a new policy for easy exit from highway projects

January 2, 2019

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is reportedly working towards a new policy for allowing firms to exit highway projects easily. This policy, likely to be called the build-operate-transfer (BOT) variable, will allow contractors to exit their highway projects once they have recovered their investment. The companies will have to return the projects to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) once they have recovered their costs through toll collection. This policy is aimed at mitigating risks in the execution of highway contracts through the conventional BOT model. Whether the exit will be allowed 5 or 10 years before time is still being discussed.