NHAI to prioritise road projects on financial viability

NEW DELHI: Eyeing asset monetisation in a big way, the government is now proposing to take up projects based on financial viability under the ambitious Bharatmala programme that entails construction of 60,000 km of national highways across the country, officials said.

Projects with high traffic density, and their ability to be monetised almost immediately after completion, and yield revenue thereby will be taken up first. The idea is to recycle assets faster, an official with direct knowledge of the matter said, requesting anonymity. “We want to see that projects are monetised as soon as they are ready, and the funds can be put into building more roads,” he said, adding that the government will resort to a combination of toll securitisation and toll-operate-transfer (TOT) to make debt sustainable.