Adani Road Transport has emerged as the highest bidder for the latest set of highway assets offered by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for monetization through the Toll Operate Transfer (ToT) model. The company has placed a bid of Rs 1,692 crore for the 124 km of highways in ToT Bundle 15, which includes a four-lane highway in Tamil Nadu.
This is the 15th bundle of highways to be monetized through the ToT model, where the successful bidder gets the right to collect toll for 20 years in lieu of an upfront payment. The bid is expected to be accepted, making it NHAI’s second monetization this financial year. The company had earlier completed the process of monetizing road assets under ToT 16, which brought in Rs 6,661 crore.
The other companies that participated in the bidding process for ToT Bundle 15 were IRB Infrastructure, Epic Concesiones backed by Edelweiss Alternatives, and Prakash Asphalting and Toll Highways (PATH). NHAI’s Total Asset Monetization Program has crossed Rs 1 trillion, which includes Rs 48,995 crore through TOT, Rs 25,900 crore through InvIT, and Rs 42,000 crore through Securitization.
NHAI has identified 33 highway stretches of 2,741 km that will be offered in the monetization drive, with 12 stretches being offered to National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT) and the remaining 21 to be monetized through ToT. The company expects to raise Rs 54,000 crore from the monetization of operational roads this year, which is much higher than the Rs 40,227 achieved last year.