The Bharatmala network designed on the shortest possible routes is bound to impact the existing network by directly competing with a few stretches, including some of the existing BOT (toll) road projects. About 25 National Highway-Toll projects involving Rs 19,435 crore of debt would be at risk as a result of new economic corridors under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, according to ICRA.

Rating consultancy ICRA has assessed the impact of the proposed 44 economic corridors under the Bharatmala Pariyojana on the existing road network in terms of risk of traffic diversion, which could in turn have an impact on the debt servicing ability of some of the BOT (toll) and OMT projects.

Shubham Jain, Vice-President and Sector Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, in a statement said, “The risk of traffic diversion is assessed based on the traffic mix, long distance traffic movement and key feeder routes. The traffic diversion risk for about 72 per cent of the projects is low, while 16 per cent of the projects have a moderate risk and the remaining 12 per cent of the projects have high risk of leakage in traffic, with the availability of an alternate route.”

Of the 44 economic corridors, about 21 ECs would partially or fully affect the existing alignments, while the remaining 23 corridors involve upgradation of existing alignment and will not result in any deviation from existing alignments.

Among the 21 corridors that affect the existing network, eight have a totally different route (shortest route between origin and destination) as against the existing route, while the remaining 13 ECs have some deviations from the existing alignment. Overall, there are 24 BOT (toll) and 1 OMT road projects, whose traffic could get affected due to the proposed ECs.

Jain said, “Although the concession agreement extends protection to the BOT toll road projects by restricting construction of additional tollway, this clause is not applicable if the length of such additional toll road exceeds the length of the existing route comprising the project highway by 20 per cent.” The total debt at risk for the 25 affected projects is Rs. 19,435 crore. Of this, about Rs. 9,416 crore of debt is considered to be low risk.