NHAI Awards Major Highway Project to HIT - News

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded a significant project for a 251-km section of the Hyderabad-Nagpur corridor to Highway Infrastructure Trust (HIT). This initiative falls under the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model and is valued at INR 6,661 crore.

Under this contract, the private concessionaire will manage and operate the NH-44 stretch in Telangana for a duration of 20 years, during which they will be responsible for collecting user fees in accordance with the National Highway Fee Rules.

The financial bids for this project, known as TOT Bundle-16, were recently opened, with Highway Infrastructure Trust emerging as the successful bidder. This development is part of NHAI’s broader National Monetization Plan, aimed at encouraging private investment in highway infrastructure.

Santosh Kumar Yadav, Chairman, NHAI, commended the success of the TOT model, reporting a 100 percent success rate in the financial year 2024 (FY24). He emphasized the strong interest from private companies in highway projects, stating that the encouraging response from bidders reflected the private participation’s growing interest.

The awarding of this contract is a significant addition to NHAI’s ambitious monetization efforts, which have seen total asset monetization surpass INR 1 lakh crore. Of this, INR 48,995 crore was raised through the TOT model. 

In FY23-24, NHAI surpassed its monetization goal by awarding four TOT bundles worth INR 15,968 crore, exceeding the target of INR 10,000 crore for the year. The TOT model aims to improve road maintenance efficiency and enhance the user experience across India’s national highways.