Mumbai: A liquidity crunch and concerns over asset quality is expected to weigh on the second attempt by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to privatize operations on toll roads.

Industry experts said response to the second round of toll-operate-transfer (TOT) auctions will be subdued compared to the robust first round.

Overwhelmed with the response for the first tranche of highway projects under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model, union minister for roads and highways Nitin Gadkari Thursday said he expects the second tranche to fetch over Rs 10,000 crore.

The maiden bundle of nine highway projects under TOT was a huge success, which was over subscribed and had fetched NHAI Rs 9,681 crore.

Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Tuesday said it has won an arbitration award of Rs 16.14 crore

against the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), bringing the total amount it has won in arbitration awards in all infrastructure projects, to Rs 6,300 crore, till date.

Tightening its fist on project financing, the road ministry, which aims to construct 30 per cent more roads each day this year, will focus on executing contracts where all requisite clearances are in place. Now, its construction wing — the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) — is focusing on judiciously planning its expenditure for the current financial year.

Even if the 13 completed and incomplete projects of IL&FS are sold, the lenders — and not the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) — will have the first right on the funds.

These disputed projects include three in Assam, two each in West Bengal and Maharashtra, and one each in Meghalaya, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. The arbitration claims in these projects are worth Rs 38.54 billion.

The National Highways Authority of India may acquire incomplete projects of the debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), a senior government official said.

“NHAI has flagged issues on projects of IL&FS to the ministry of roads, transport and highways,” the official said. “There can be negotiated settlement for incomplete projects since liquidity is a problem…

NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India owes only Rs 425 crore to the embattled Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services and the Mumbai-based infrastructure lender and developer has raised claims for about Rs 4,000 crore, which are currently under arbitration, a senior government official has said.

Betting big on technology for a seamless highway ride, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon tie up with oil marketing companies for selling FASTags, as the authority is of the view that easy availability of these tags would lead to greater usage and less congestion on roads.

Extending Friday’s rally, the benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 200 points to record a new high of 37,790.72 in early trade, and NSE Nifty breached the 11,400 mark today on widespread buying by consumer durables, PSU and banking counters amid firm Asian cues.

The Sensex spurted by 234.56 points, or 0.62 per cent, to hit a new high of 37,790.72, surpassing its previous record of 37,711.87 clocked on August 1.

In a break from convention, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Friday concluded an agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) to raise Rs 25,000 crore from the country’s largest bank as an unsecured loan, mainly to finance fully-state-funded engineering procurement and construction (EPC) projects.

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