A JV of Sydney-based infrastructure asset management company the Macquarie Group and Ashoka Buildcon Limited has secured the rights to manage 648 km of national highways under the first bundle bid out on a toll-operate-transfer (ToT) basis. Ashoka Buildcon will be responsible for operations and maintenance, and the equity component will be financed from the $3 billion raised by the Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund II. The company has quoted a bid price of Rs 96.81 billion. The other bidders were Brookfield Asset Management, a JV of IRB Infrastructure Developers and Autostrade; and a JV of Holland’s Roadis and National Infrastructure and Investment Fund, which quoted Rs 75.11 billion, Rs 69.3 billion and Rs 66.11 billion respectively. The auction is a part of the government’s plan to monetise publicly funded, operational national highways through the ToT model.
Under the second bundle of the ToT model, around 480 km of highways across Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar will be auctioned. Further, the third bundle aggregating 565 km will span across the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, and the fourth bundle of around 675 km will span across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The tenders for the second bundle are expected to be issued by April 2018.