NHAI delays third phase of road monetisation

Reportedly, NHAI has decided to rework and delay the tendering process for projects under TOT Bundle III, seeking to entice bigger domestic investors. The authority is expected to remove some road stretches under this bundle, especially the lucrative ones, besides tweaking the overall tenure of the project. The decision comes after the central government accorded flexibility to NHAI to fix the tenure of future road monetisation contracts. The current TOT projects have a fixed tenure of 30 years. This has been relaxed after the cabinet decision. Now, NHAI has been authorised to fix the contract period from 15 to 30 years depending on the project. As of now, Cube Highways has emerged as the highest bidder for TOT Bundle III.