To keep investors interested in road-monetisation projects, the Union government has chalked out plans to overcome some of its challenges that might deter favourable bids.
A major challenge for the road ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), trying to put more stretches of highways under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) scheme, is that some require upgrades in the next 10 years. A TOT contract is usually for 25-30 years. A call needs to be taken on whether projects will be completed before they are tendered out. “But, if we wait for the upgrade before the projects are bid out,