60% road projects do not have a major maintenance reserve, says ICRA

The lack or inadequacy of these funds also highlights financial stress in developing these road projects

Road developers are either giving the creation of a maintenance reserve for roads in India a total miss, or setting aside inadequate funds for it, according to an ICRA Ratings survey. In simpler terms, the survey suggests that a large number of build operate transfer (BOT) highways in India may not have a ready funds for their maintenance, when needed.

“In staggering 60% of the sample considered for ICRA’s study, Major Maintenance Reserve (MMR) was not created. Whereas in other 25%, though MMR was created, it appears inadequate to fund the associated costs,” ICRA said in a note on Wednesday. The