NHAI to revive BOT model, offers 950 km for tendering

In a bid to revive Public Private Partnership (PPP) in highway projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has identified various stretches on pan-India basis which will be constructed through PPP Built Operate Transfer (Toll) Mode. These stretches have been selected on the basis of consultation with the perspective bidders.

NHAI has invited pre-qualification bids from road developers for 15 roads with a total length of nearly 794 km. The tentative total cost of these projects is Rs 22,253 crore. The nodal agency has invited pre-qualification bids from road developers for the identified road stretches after a span of almost eight years.

These 15 projects are spread across -- Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Moreover, majority of the projects put on bidding are for four laning.

A total of 185 km of road stretch in the state of Andhra Pradesh has been put up on tendering process under DBFOT basis. In the state, of Renigunta- Naidupeta (53 km) stretch will be taken up for six laning with a tentative project cost of Rs 1,400 crore, while four laning of Kadapa-Renigunta, with a total length of 132 km, will be divided in two packages with an aggregate value of Rs 1,834 crore.

The nodal agency has identified road works stretching 129 km each in the states of Maharashtra and West Bengal. In Maharashtra tenders have been floated in three packages for six-laning of Satara-Kagal with a tentative total project cost of Rs 2,484 crore. On the other hand, in West Bengal, six-laning of Palsit-Panagarh and Dankuni-Palsit will see an aggregate investment to the tune of Rs 1,130 crore.

In the state Karanataka tenders have been floated for six laning of MH/KT Border–Belgaum (78 km), Dharwad-Hubli (30 km) and Tumkur-Nelamangala (45 km). Apart from this, two road projects, four-laning of Gurgaon-Pataudi-Rewari and six-laning of Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna will be taken up in Haryana with an estimated cost of Rs 3,951 crore.

In Tamil Nadu, Tambaram-Chengalpattu-Tindivanam road stretch (93 km) will be taken up in two packages. While Package-I will be a six-laning and Package-II will be an eight-laning. The aggregate value of these projects is Rs 6,371 crore.

The NHAI has asked for an annual qualification document for these projects, after which financial bids will be called out from shortlisted bidders. Moreover, modifications have also been made in the existing RFQ to make it more industry friendly.

Apart from this, NHAI had put up nine stretches of roads totaling 566.27 km across Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Tamil Nadu for toll operate transfer (TOT) auctions. These included Jhansi-Lalitpur (Package-I and II), Lucknow-Raibareli section, Kotwa- Muzaffarpur section, Hazaribagh-Ranchi, Madurai-Kanyakumari section. The deadline for submitting bids for these project is 30 September 2019. This is the third bundle of highway projects put up for auctioned. The NHAI has set the initial estimated concession value or reserve price for this roads bundle at Rs 4,995.48 crore.

Adani Enterprises, Cube Highways and Infrastructure, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and IRB Infrastructure are expected to place bids for road projects.

MAIF 2 Investments India 2 (MAIF-II), along with Ashoka Buildcon, bagged the contract for Bundle-I comprising nine NH stretches. Macquarie bagged the bundle by quoting a bid price of Rs 9,681.5 crore against the NHAI’s estimated concession value of Rs 6,258 crore.

Tenders were floated for Bundle-2 on 6 August 2018 but only three bids were received on due date, 19 December 2018. The bidding process was annulled due to low quote by highest bidder Cube Highways and Transport Assets Advisors which was 14 percent below Authority Estimated Initial Estimated Concession Value (IECV).