Adani led consortium sets to bag ₹8,000-cr HCMTR contract

A consortium comprising Adani, Welspun and China Third Engineering has placed a bid of ₹8,000 crore for the upcoming High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) project in Pune. The bid is about 40 per cent higher as compared to the reserve price of ₹5,200 crore fixed by the Pune Municipal Corporation, said head of the roads department at Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Anirudh Pawaskar. The HCMTR encircles a large part of the cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area and the move is aimed at easing traffic congestion in the ninth most populous city. This project is an elevated six-lane road, spanning 35.96 km and will have two dedicated lanes for the Bus Rapid Transit System with 26 stations. As per request for the proposal documents, the bidders can propose either of the two public, private partnership (PPP) models. The bidder could opt to build the project under the hybrid annuity model (HAM), under which PMC will fund 40 per cent of the project cost while the rest is to be financed by the developer through a combination of debt and equity. PMC will collect toll and repay the developer in annual installments over a 15-year concession period. The other option before a bidder is to design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, where the concessionaire will be able to toll the project for 30 years. PMC will also give the concessionaire advertisement rights at various locations along the project, he added.