Highways Infrastructure Trust (HIT) sponsored by a Singapore arm of global investment firm KKR has emerged as the highest bidder with an offer of Rs 6,661 crore for acquiring two stretches of highways of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that have been offered for monetisation through Toll Operate Transfer (ToT) mode.

HIT was among the four bidders for the two road stretches totalling 251 km on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor in Telangana. These were offered by NHAI as part of the ToT Bundle 16 and would be the first road monetisation of the financial year.

Adani Road Transport, IRB Infrastructure, Cube Highways are the other bidders in the fray.

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NHAI hands over 251-km Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor to Highway Infrastructure Trust for Rs 6,661 crore

Two highway stretches totalling 251 km on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor in Telangana are part of the ToT Bundle 16. If the bids are accepted then the NHAI will cover a little more than 40% of its target for monetisation through ToT.

Bids for highways in ToT bundles 15, 17, 18 and 19 are still open. The concession period of ToT bundles is 20 years in which concessionaires are required to maintain and operate the stretches. In lieu of upfront payment, concessionaires are allowed to collect and retain the user fee.

This year the highway builder expects to raise Rs 54.000 crore from monetisation of operational roads, which is much higher than Rs 40,227 achieved last year. Of the FY 25 target, Rs 8,000 will come from project based financing and Rs 46,000 crore from ToT and National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT).

The highway builder has already identified 33 highway stretches of 2741 km that will be offered in the monetisation drive. Of the 33 highways, 12 have been offered to NHIT which is promoted by NHAI. Monetisation through NHAI is expected to bring in Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore. The remaining 21 will be monetised through ToT.

These 33 roads identified for monetisation this FY are spread over Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.