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Adani Enterprises Ltd and D P Jain & Company Infrastructure Pvt Ltd have emerged as the highest bidders for two separate highway packages auctioned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the toll-operate and transfer (ToT) model.
Adani Enterprises placed the highest price bid of ₹1,011 crore for 53.6 kms highway stretch between Palanpur-Radhanpur-Samkhiyali section of NH 27, government sources said.
D P Jain & Company quoted ₹1,251 crore to become the highest bidder for the 105.9 km stretch between Palanpur-Radhanpur section of NH 27 and Radhanpur-Samakhiyali section of NH 27.
The price bids for the two projects in Gujarat were opened on Friday.
Under the ToT model, the right to collect user-fee or toll on selected national highway stretches built through public funding will be auctioned and assigned to a concessionaire for a period of 20 years against an upfront payment of a lump-sum amount (concession fee) to the government.
This was the first ToT auctions after the NHAI last year scrapped the practice of announcing the initial estimated concession value (IECV) for ToT projects at the beginning of the tendering process.
The estimated concession value of each project (the initial estimated concession value of NHAI) will now be disclosed after receipt of price bids and after declaring the selected bidder. The assessment of actual concession fee, however, will have to be made by the bidders.
The IECV for the two highway bundles will be known when the board of NHAI meets to clear the price bids for the two projects, the sources said.
TOT is an asset recycle program wherein, already operational national highways are being provided to private entities on long term concession basis. The TOT operator has a right to collect user fee and has an obligation to operate and maintain, on the international standards, the respective stretches during the concession period.
The TOT model has been developed to encourage private participation in highway sector and generate more resources for construction of future highways.