NHAI begins search for long-term funds amid fears of revenue crunch

NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started work on new strategies to tap long-term investment from different sources, including insurance, pension and overseas funds and also to get soft loan from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, ADB and New Development Bank.
The exercise has started amid clear signs of fall in toll revenue, a lower than expected mobilisation in fuel cess and subdued response to the monetisation of completed highway projects — the three key sources for NHAI’s finances.
An NHAI official said they have engaged a team of experts, recommended by the World Bank, and another external expert has been appointed as adviser (finance) who has worked in a major public sector insurance company as part of a larger exercise to tap new fund sources.