New hybrid model likely to fund highway projects

November 22, 2006

NEW DELHI, NOV 22: The Centre is likely to stop financing future highway projects on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) annuity basis because the entire traffic risk falls on National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the government that collects the toll.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Nine road projects cleared by PPP appraisal committee

November 1, 2006

NEW DELHI, NOV 1: Road sector projects seem to be on the fast track with the public private partnership appraisal committee (PPP-AC) clearing nine road projects in its second meeting on Wednesday.

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Financial closure on Rs 765cr Bangalore Expressway achieved

November 1, 2006

The consortium of Soma Enterprise Ltd., a leading infrastructure developer with Nagarjuna Construction Co. and Maytas Infra Pvt. Ltd., today announced that financial closure on the Rs.765 crore Elevated Toll Expressway Project on Bangalore – Hosur Section of NH-7 (from Km 9.5 to Km 18.5) on BOT basis has been achieved. Out of the Rs.765 crore, Rs.600 crore of debt has been raised from a consortium of banks, led by Canara Bank. The consortium will operate the expressway for a period of 20 years. The special purpose vehicle formed for this project is Bangalore Elevated Tollway Ltd.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Investment and Finance

Roads to nowhere

November 1, 2006

What is the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP)? As originally contemplated under the NDA government, there was the golden quadrilateral (Phase I) and the North-South and East-West corridors (Phase II). We had a deadline of December 2003 for Phase I and a deadline of December 2008 for Phase II. We are pretty close to December 2006 and Phase I is far from over.

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Evaluating toll road credits

November 1, 2006

It has been recently reported that the government of India has given its approval for six-laning of 6,500 km of national highways, including 5,700 km forming part of the Golden Quadrilateral at a total cost of Rs 41,210 crore. In terms of financing, the expectation is that private sector will commit investments of Rs 35,690 crore. Also the government, in order to accelerate implementation of highway projects of Rs 2,20,000 crore, has set a target of awarding 175 contracts for Rs 76,540 crore, all on BOT basis by March 2008. Since a number of these projects are going to be predominantly debt financed with repayments supported by toll collections, it would be timely and useful to have an analytical framework for assessing the credit quality of various types of toll roads and financing structures.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Investment and Finance