Larsen and Toubro has emerged the best bidder for developing and operating Amravati-Jalgaon national highway project, by offering a premium of Rs 131.04 crore per annum to the Government.
The project cost is about Rs 2,538 crore, according to Government estimates.
The premium offered is good news for Government – as the Government was anticipating a lower level of premium (Rs 5.5 crore per annum) for this project.
There were 12 bidders vying for the project, out of which 7 had offered to pay to NHAI various levels of premium to win the rights.
The remaining bidders had sought subsidy from the Government – called viability gap funding – to develop and operate the highway.
This was told to Business Line by reliable sources.
The company is likely to bag this project, if there are no procedural glitches. The rights for the best bidder include designing the highway for four-lane, raising finance and spending money to develop the project, and operating it for the pre-decided concession period. In return, the developer gets to keep the toll charges for the entire concession period.
L&T Infrastructure, KMC Constructions-IL&FS Transportation Ltd consortium, IVRCL have emerged as best bidders for some large highway projects. The bids are currently under process and will be awarded, after completion of process requirements.
With this, NHAI has over 6000 km of highway projects in current fiscal.