Agra Etawah Tollways Limited

cancelled

In November 2011, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) awarded a 30 year concession (including construction period of 910 days) to Ramky Infrastructure Limited for the strengthening, improvement, six-laning, operation and maintenance and tolling of 124.5kms of Agra–Etawah Bypass section of NH-2 from KM 199.660 to KM 323.525 in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Under the contract, Ramky was responsible for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of a 6-lane highway with paved shoulders. The scope would include construction of new pavement, rehabilitation of existing pavement, construction and/or rehabilitation of major and minor bridges, culverts, road intersections, interchanges, drains, etc.The bypass project, part of National Highway Development Project Phase - V, was expected to ease traffic congestion and give significant stimulus to trade and commerce in the entire region.This stretch of Agra-Etawah was a part of Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) on NH2. The Delhi-Kolkata (NH2) link passes through UP which was to be widened. Ramky Infrastructure Limited established Agra Etawah Tollways Limited (AETL) on 8th December 2011, a special purpose vehicle, to implement the project. The SPV won the tender through competitive bidding, conducted by NHAI, by quoting the highest premium payment to NHAI. The SPV would pay NHAI a sum of of US$25.6mn (INR 1280.7mn @50 INR/USD) in the first year of operations with 5% increase in each subsequent year (This amounted to an NPV payout of US$ 378.8mn over a concession period of 30 years at a discount rate of 10%).There were 33 prequalified bidders for this project, out of which 11 had finally bid for this project. The nearest competitor, Oriental Infra had quoted a premium of INR 1218.9mn. Under the contract, the SPV was to recover the capital costs and operating costs including returns through tolling during the term of concession. The concession agreement was signed on 19th January 2012.The project attained financial closure on 29th December 2012. The debt/equity ratio of the project could not be ascertained as the project cost at the time of financial closure could not be obtained. The estimated capital cost of the project at the time of bidding was US$ 241.4 (INR 12070mn @50 INR/USD) million. Ramky reported debt financing of US$ 245mn (INR 12250mn) term loan. The lead arranger was Oriental Bank of Commerce and other participating banks were Union Bank of India,Bank of India, Central Bank of India, India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd,State Bank of Patiala, and Axis Bank. Construction on the project began in December 2012 and was expected to be completed by June 2015. However Ramky had backed out of the project citing lack of statutary environmental and wildlife clearances, which was affecting the viability of the project under the severe economic downturn and the associated upfront premium payment to NHAI. Ramky failed to deposit the 1% bank guarantee and start the work. Finally NHAI had terminated the Concession in August 2013.