SPV in place to build, fund & operate Delhi-Mumbai expressway

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has formed Special Purpose Vehicle to finance, construct, and operate the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the new arm has been registered as DME Development and will be owned by NHAI. The SPV aims at diversifying its resource base and developing a sustainable and self-liquidating approach to generate finances. NHAI is implementing about 28,000 km under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-1 under which the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one of the flagship highway corridors. NHAI informed that, spanning across 1,275 km, it will be an eight-lane expressway, with the provision to expand to 12 lanes in the future and it has a design speed of 120 km per hour. It will be India‘s longest greenfield expressway and will be completely access-controlled with closed tolling. A network of 75- wayside amenities is also planned on either side of the expressway at an interval of 50 km. The project has a capital cost of ₹82,514 crore, which includes the land acquisition cost of ₹20,928 crore. The SPV will raise debt on its balance sheet, while the NHAI retains the operational control during the construction, operations and maintenance. The toll on the projects will be collected by the NHAI and the SPV will get annuity payments without any construction and tolling risks.