NHAI to turn road assets into SPVs: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will consider organising its road assets into Special Purpose Vehicles to raise equity from the markets for its mature road assets.

"To raise equity from the market for its mature road assets, NHAI will consider organising its road assets into Special Purpose Vehicles and use innovative monetizing structures like Toll, Operate and Transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Funds (InvITs)," said Jaitley in his 2018-19 Union Budget speech.

Ministry for Road, Transport and Highways have been allocated Rs 71,000 crore for fiscal period 2017-18, nearly 10 per cent rise compared to Rs 64,900 allocated to the ministry in last fiscal.

In his budget speech, Jaitley said, "Government has scaled new heights in development of Road Infrastructure sector. We are confident to complete National Highways exceeding 9,000 kilometers length during 2017-18."

"Ambitious BharatMala Pariyojana has been approved for providing seamless connectivity of interior and backward areas and borders of the country to develop about 35000 km in Phase-I at an estimated cost of Rs 5,35,000 crore," said Jaitley.

--IANS

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