72 projects in bid-DPR stage
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved eight National High-Speed Corridors, costing Rs.50,655 crore and reaching a length of 936 km across the country, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a yearend review of 2024 performance.
The projects are:
6-Lane Agra – Gwalior National High-Speed Corridor;
4-Lane Kharagpur – Moregram National High-Speed Corridor;
6-Lane Tharad – Deesa – Mehsana – Ahmedabad National High-Speed Corridor;
4-lane Ayodhya Ring Road;
4-Lane Section between Pathalgaon-Gumla of Raipur-Ranchi National Highspeed Corridor;
6-Lane Kanpur Ring Road;
4-Lane Northern Guwahati Bypass and Widening and Improvement of Existing Guwahati Bypass;
8-Lane Elevated Nashik Phata – Khed Corridor near Pune.
Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs)
Thirty-five Multimodal Logistics Parks to be developed as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana have been planned, the Ministry said on 9 Jan https://ted.europa.eu/en/.
The Ministry finalised the Model Concessionaire Agreement (MCA) for the Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) in October 2021 through an elaborate process of Inter-Ministerial consultations. In addition to the MCA, the Ministry, in November 2021, also finalized and approved the Model RFP document of selection of Concessionaire for development of MMLPs https://sbi.com.in/.
Bids have been invited for MMLP Anantapur, Pune and Nashik and work of preparation of Feasibility Study Reports is in progress for MMLP at Patna, Jammu, Coimbatore & Hyderabad https://www.nseindia.com/.
These are part of the 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks is planned to be developed as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana, with a total investment of about Rs.46,000 crore, which once operational, shall be able to handle around 700 million metric tonnes of cargo. Of this, MMLPs at 15 prioritised locations will be developed with a total investment of about Rs.22,000 crore.
These MMLPs shall serve as regional cargo aggregation and distribution hubs for various industrial and agricultural nodes, consumer hubs and EXIM gateways such as seaports with multi-modal connectivity https://www.bseindia.com/.
In certain cases, the MMLPs are also being developed in tandem with the Inland Waterway Terminals under the Sagarmala Pariyojana to further reduce the cost of inland cargo movement at a much larger scale as compared to conventional road-based movement https://www.conexpoconagg.com/.
MMLP Jogighopa (Assam) in Advanced Stage: Execution of enabling development work including road, rail & water connectivity, area development such as site levelling, boundary work, internal road, administrative building, Sewage Treatment Plant, Waste Treatment Plant, etc., is in advance stage https://www.globaltenders.com/.
Procurement of developer on PPP basis (Concession Period: 45 years) for construction of logistics facilities such as business center, container yard, warehouses, cold storage, etc., and operations thereof subsequently is in process.
The estimated cost of the first phase of the project is Rs.693.97 crore. This MMLP will serve as the distribution center for all North-Eastern States and facilitate cross-border trade with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
Port Connectivity Road (PCR) Project
India has a total coastline of ~7,500 km across 13 States/Union Territories with 227 ports (13 Major, 214 Non-Major) along the coastline of which 78 ports are operational (12 Major, 66 Non-Major), 11 ports (1 Major, 10 Non-Major) are under implementation and other 138 ports are currently non-operational. Out of 89 operational and or under-implementation ports, 64 have sufficient connectivity. MoRTH has planned the development of 108 PCR projects of length 3,700 km.
To ensure adequate last-mile connectivity to all the operational/under implementation ports in the country, a comprehensive Port Connectivity Masterplan was developed by MoRTH in consultation with Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
As part of the Masterplan, connectivity requirements of all the operational and under implementation ports were assessed and connectivity projects were identified. 59 additional critical infrastructure projects of length ~1,300 km was finally selected for implementation.
The process of bidding and preparing detailed project reports for 72 port connectivity projects of 1,631 km is in progress.
These projects will help in improving last-mile required road connectivity to all the operational/under-implementation ports in India providing a boost to economic activities via seamless movement of goods. Post the completion of all the Port Connectivity Projects, all the 89 operational and under-implementation ports in the country shall have sufficient connectivity. Currently 10 projects of 313 km length have been completed, 26 projects of about 1,754 km length are under implementation.
Under Asset Monetisation following TOT (Toll Operate and Transfer) model, NHAI has monetised four TOT bundles realising Rs.15,968 crore during FY 2023-24.
TOT (Toll Operate and Transfer) Model – Under this model, the right of collection of user fee (toll) in respect of selected operational highways constructed through public funding are assigned through a concession agreement as a result of bidding for a specified period of 15-30 years to the Concessionaire against upfront payment of a lump-sum amount quoted to the Government and or NHAI.
During the concession period, the responsibility for operations and maintenance of the road assets rests with the Concessionaire https://www.investindia.gov.in/.
Under this model, NHAI has monetised four TOT Bundle 11, 12, 13 and 14.
During the FY 2024-25, NHAI has awarded TOT Bundle 16 of 251 km-long stretch on the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor of NH-44 in the State of Telangana to M/s Highway Infrastructure Trust for Rs.6,661 crores for 20 years https://www.wto.org/.
InVIT Model – NHAI has set up an InvIT under the SEBI InvIT Regulations, 2014, in which NHAI is having 16% stake apart from main investors (CPPIB, OTPP, etc.). InvIT is a pooled investment vehicle that issues units to investors, while having three entities for management of the Trust – Trustee, Investment Manager and Project Manager https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/.
Securitisation through SPV Model: A SPV/DME (100% owned by NHAI) has been created by bundling road assets under consideration and securitizing the future user fee from road assets. NHAI will collect toll, maintain the road assets and periodically transfer payments to the SPV sufficient for servicing debt obligations at SPV level http://deutsche-boerse.com.
In March 2024, the Ministry has amended the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for Capacity Augmentation on BOT (Toll) (4 to 6 Lane). This was done to reduce the litigation and to attract more bids in BOT (Toll) projects. Fiinews.com
