Construction Mirror Article detail

A clutch of global investors, including Canadian fund CDPQ, KKR, Cube Highways, and domestic road operator IRB Infrastructure Developers, is interested in acquiring a 361-km highway asset under ToT 12 auction by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).Bids for the Lalitpur-Lakhnadon stretch of NH26 in Madhya Pradesh have been submitted last month and the technical evaluation is ongoing, said people aware of the development. The bids are expected to be opened in the next two weeks, sources said.This was the 12th bundle of road assets offered under the toll-operate-transfer (ToT) contract as part of the government's asset monetisation programme.Another road project, the 82-km-long Allahabad Bypass, has received only one bid, from Cube Highways, under the ToT 11 auction.The NHAI is expecting a valuation of '4,000 crore for the ToT 12 bundle, said sources. "It is the longest single asset ever offered by the NHAI and also with a 20-year concession period, making it attractive for the investors," said one of the bidders. KKR and CDPQ have submitted bids through their respective infrastructure trusts - Highways Infrastructure Trust and India Highway Concession Trust.The Lalitpur-Lakhnadon stretch is expected to post revenue of '331 crore in FY24. The revenue projection this fiscal year for the Allahabad Bypass is '268 crore, said sources.When contacted, spokespeople for CDPQ, IRB and KKR declined to comment, while emails sent to Cube and the NHAI did not elicit any response till press time Thursday.The NHAI's road monetisation process is on a slow track as the government had to cancel several ToT auctions due to tepid responses. Earlier, the NHAI had cancelled its ToT 10 tender, which offered the 125-km Gwalior-Shivpuri (NH-03) section in Madhya Pradesh, due to poor responses.The NHAI had awarded ToT 9, which consists of a 73-km stretch in Allahabad-Varanasi of NH-30 in Uttar Pradesh, to government-backed infrastructure fund NIIF.The Adani Group and DP Jain had won the ToT bundle 5 assets which were divided into two parts - 5A-1 & 5A-2.After the NHAI started monetising its highway assets, Macquarie had won the first ToT bundle by paying Rs 9,681 crore, 1.5 times higher than the base price, in 2018. The highway authority had to cancel the ToT bundle 2 monetisation programme as none of the bidders matched up the floor price of ?5,632 for a 586-km stretch.Cube Highways had been awarded ToT-3 Projects, consisting of nine road stretches with 2,265 lane km across four states, while the fourth bundle was annulled.Canadian institutional investor CDPQ (Indian Highways Concessions Trust) had won the ToT-7 bundle by offering ?6,200 crore. The second bid by Cube was 75-80% lower than the highest bid.At present, there are three operational toll road projects - NCR Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Shree Jagannath Expressways in Odisha and Durg Shivnath Expressways in Chhattisgarh, held by the Indian Highways Concessions Trust.The KKR-backed Highways Infrastructure Trust's initial portfolio comprises six road assets with a total length of more than 452 km across six states.