Macquarie wins TOT bid for nine national highways in India

NEW DELHI - In a big boost to the Indian Government’s asset monetisation programme, Australia’s Macquarie Group, has won a Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) bid for nine national highways with a total length of 648km for A$1.9 billion (Rs9,681.5 crore).

The auction, the first of its type by the Government, is part of a plan to monetise publicly-funded, operational national highways through the TOT model.

Under the model, the right to collect user-fee or toll on selected national highway stretches built through public funding is proposed to be auctioned and assigned to a concessionaire for a period of 30 years against an upfront payment of a lump-sum amount to the Government.

The Macquarie deal is said to be one of the largest foreign direct investments (FDI) yet in public infrastructure in India where development funds are received up-front. (ATI).