Centre to link highway awards to returns, based on FASTag data

New Delhi: The Centre plans to mandate awarding new highway projects under the build-operate-transfer (BoT) model if the traffic data, generated through the electronic toll collection system FASTag, shows that private developers can earn at least 15% annual returns from toll collections, two people aware of the matter said.

Less remunerative projects, such as highway contracts showing less than 15% annual returns, will be awarded under hybrid annuity model (HAM) or engineering, procurement construction (EPC) route, where the government bears full or partial construction risk and funding.