NHAI signs MoU with NIIF for funding highway projects

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed an MoU with the NIIF. The fund is promoted by the Government of India to give a boost to the country’s infrastructure sectors. The MoU is related to cooperation in the formation of SPVs to execute the fund arrangement for large-size road projects, particularly greenfield projects, to be executed by NHAI in the future. NHAI is raising finances for its mega projects and is not dependent only upon budgetary support. Several funding models that had been adopted in the past have yielded good results. The MoU is expected to provide innovative financial models for the Rs 7.5 trillion Bharatmala programme. This arrangement of innovative alternative sources of funding is being looked into by NHAI to attract international investors and fund houses that are willing to invest in road projects in India but are not keen to take project execution risks. This arrangement is expected to bring in huge amounts of investment at economical rates for highway development and reduce the stress of borrowing on NHAI‘s balance sheet.