BOT Model to Attract Private Investment
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has identified 53 road projects worth Rs 2.1 lakh crore to be awarded on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, according to an official statement released on Wednesday. The total length of these projects is 5,200 km, out of which bids for seven highways with a length of 387 km worth Rs 27,000 crore have already been invited.
The MoRTH will come out with a modified BOT project document in the next one month to attract private companies for investments in the highways sector, the statement said. The BOT model involves the risk of financing, building and operating highway projects with a concession period of 20-30 years.
Proposed Changes in BOT Terms
The MoRTH has proposed some changes in the BOT terms to make them more attractive and viable for the private sector. These include:
- Modifications in the concession period based on actual traffic (PCU) against tolling groups of vehicles
- Re-visiting of actual traffic exceeding design capacity
- Compensation for delays on the part of the authority
- Clearly defined termination payments before project completion in case of force-majeure events
- New provision of buyback in case of an additional tollway or competing road
Vision @2047 Plan
The MoRTH’s initiative is part of the government of India’s ‘Vision @2047’ plan, which aims to develop a large number of high-speed corridors across the country. Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said at a conference on BOT projects on Wednesday that NHAI is making efforts to fast-track clearances and make the entire system transparent and time-bound to make BOT projects attractive.
Gadkari also asked concessionaires to improve the quality of road construction and reduce the cost of the projects. “We want to give a renewed push to BOT projects and have urged banks to liberalise financing to the road infrastructure sector,” Gadkari said.
NHAI chairman SK Yadav also spoke at the event and said that the idea behind the modified BOT project document is to eliminate discrepancies and make BOT projects attractive.