NHAI eyes Rs. 5,000 crore from roads bidding.

The government will soon offer 550 km of roads to private companies to operate and collect tolls, in a move to get cracking on an asset monetisation plan, an official told ET. 

The National Highways Authority of India will seek bids for the roads under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) plan in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand next month, expecting to fetch about Rs 5,000 crore. 

“Details of the third round of auctions are expected to be finalised soon and bids will be invited in a month,” the official said. 

The government introduced the TOT model in 2016 to monetise publicly funded highways. Under the programme, investors make a one-time lump sum payment in return for long-term toll collection rights. The current TOT offers a 30-year lease. 

The government is pursuing the TOT model to help raise resources in the sector and attract private funding, which has remained subdued. The first round of TOT auctions for 680 km of highways ended in February 2018. 

ET