Highway developers whose projects are nearing completion but are stuck due to lack of equity or bank funding can now get loans from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at an interest rate of 11.5 per cent. Once the toll revenues start from these completed projects, they will first accrue to NHAI.

Following recent Cabinet approval for such a proposal, NHAI is working on a proposal to extend loans to developers at the Reserve Bank of India’s lending rate plus 2 per cent, which works out to 11.5 per cent. However, other checks and balances are built in.

For instance, NHAI will step in with a loan to a developer only if the amount is not over 30 per cent of the original project cost.

While the exact details still have to be worked out, the initial parameters indicate that only four-laning proposals will be eligible for such funding.

However, some six-laning projects could also qualify where revenue collection has started, in case there are some service lanes or safety features to be completed, said an official.

The projects that are likely to qualify to benefit from this scheme are Bareilly-Sitapur (Era Infra), Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar (Era Infra), Haridwar-Dehradun (Era Infra), Barasat-Krishnanagar (Madhucon), Krishnanagar-Berhampore (SEW SPV), Farakka-Raiganj (HCC), Panvel-Indapur (Mahavir Infra), Chhapra-Hajipur (Madhucon Infra), Motijari-Raxaul, Ranchi-Rargaon-Jamshedpur (Madhucon), Kundapur-Kerala-border, Raiganj-Dalkhola (HCC).

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