Kerala’s infra funding arm to give ₹6,000 cr grant to NHAI

The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the infrastructure funding arm of the Kerala government, will give ₹6,000 crore as grant to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to part-finance the four/six-laning of some 565 km of national highways in the state.

India’s national highway development agency estimates a funding of ₹48,000 crore to convert 565 km of two-lane highways into four/six-lanes, close to half of which would be used to acquire land. Given the high land prices in Kerala, NHAI reckons that it won’t be able to fund the four/six-laning on its own and had approached the Kerala government asking it to fund one-fourth of the land acquisition cost.