Policy on cards to let firms exit highway projects easily: Road ministry

Whether firms will be allowed to exit five or 10 years before time is being discussed, the road ministry official said

Companies building highways might soon have the option of exiting their projects once they have recovered their investment if a new government policy is implemented. The policy is likely to be called BOT (Variable).

The companies will have to return the projects to the National Highways Authority of India once they have recovered costs through toll collections. This policy is aimed at mitigating risks in execution of highway contracts through the conventional build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

A senior road ministry official said, “We are not getting enough interest for BOT projects. So, BOT (Variable) is one of the options we are deliberating. The