The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has chosen 33 projects to raise Rs 45,000 crore this year. These projects span across 12 states and cover a total distance of 2,742 km.
The NHAI plans to monetize these assets through two methods: Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT). Most of the projects will be monetized through TOT, where successful bidders pay NHAI upfront and gain the rights to maintain, operate, and collect tolls for 20 years. InvIT, on the other hand, works like a mutual fund, allowing individual and institutional investors to directly invest in infrastructure projects and earn returns from the income generated.
NHAI officials are confident that they will exceed their target as the identified projects are attractive to investors, and the toll collection on these stretches is strong. With a flourishing economy, investors can expect good returns on their investment. Some of the identified projects include the Kanpur-Ayodhya-Gorakhpur stretch (333 km), Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch (226 km), Haridwar-Muzaffarpur stretch (74 km), and the Chennai Bypass (32 km). The annual toll collection on these 33 stretches amounts to approximately Rs 4,931 crore.
The government’s national asset monetization pipeline aims to monetize projects in the road and highway sector worth around Rs 1.6 lakh crore by March 2025. So far, the highway sector has successfully monetized projects worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore.