Highway Ministry plans to raise Rs 35,000 crore in asset monetisation in 2023-24

Currently, MoRTH monetises its assets under three ways, InvIT, the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model, and project-based financing

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) plans to garner Rs 35,000 crore from asset monetisation in the current fiscal which will exceed the last financial year's target of Rs 32,855 crore.

The Ministry is proposing to raise Rs 15,000 crore in 2023-24 through project-based financing of expressways by securitising future toll revenues. The ministry plans to collect Rs 10,000 crore using ToT ( toll-operate-transfer) and another Rs 10,000 crore is expected to be raised via InvIT (infrastructure investment trusts), said an official in the Ministry.

Currently, MoRTH monetises its assets in three ways: InvIT, the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model, and project-based financing.

Read | Construction of national highways at 10,331 km in 2022-23

In the last four years, the government raised Rs 67,997 crore through asset monetisation, the official said.

The construction of national highways in 2022-23 was 10,993 kilometres, falling 13.70 per cent short of the government's target of 12,500 km, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) latest data. The ministry awarded highways of 12,375 km in length in the last financial year.

While the pace of the construction of national highways (NH) in the country touched a record high of 37 kilometres a day in 2020-21, it slowed to 30.11 kilometres a day in 2022-23.

The ministry said it had constructed 10,237 km in 2019-20, 13,327 km in 2020-21 and 10,457 km in 2021-22.

The Ministry claimed that almost 50,000 km of national highways were added in nine years. India had a total of 97,830 km of National Highways in 2014-15 which has been expanded to 145,155 km by March 2023.