In an attempt to ensure smooth flow of funds to meet its investment requirement for the upcoming road projects and to undertake expansion of highways and building newer ones, the road transport ministry in a recent move has approved the nodal agency's proposal to raise up to Rs 55,000-cr during the upcoming fiscal, said official sources, adding that the ministry has also proposed in a Cabinet note allowing the NHAI to keep the proceeds of completed highway projects that will be sold out for a healthier balance sheet as the move will help NHAI to raise more funds on its own rather than continuing to depend on more and more budgetary support. The ministry has prepared a list of 75 completed projects that can be sold to private players for about 15 years under a new model named Toll-Operate-Transfer under which it has targeted to generate at least Rs. 40,000-Rs 50,000-cr upfront revenue from selling these projects. As of now these clutch of stretches annually generate Rs 4,400-cr toll revenue. Prior to this, proposal was to transfer entire proceeds to Consolidated Fund of India but in that case has to depend on the budgetary support and that the agency is very optimistic that all the departments would support the proposal.
