Baharampore Farakka Highways Ltd

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Baharampore Farakka Highways Ltd was created to expand from 2 to 4 lanes Baharampore to Farakka (103 km) section of NH-34 (103 km) in the state of West Bengal. Baharampore Farakka Highways Ltd was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company Limited and covered in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. The project was awarded under a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis. The concessionaire agreed to undertake all expenditure to complete the project and recover the same by toll fees fee for 25 years including a construction period of 30 months. The project was one of the three projects that the National Highway Authority of India awarded to Hindustan Construction Co Ltd for three contiguous sections of approximately in NH34 for a total of 256 kms at a total cost of 3,231 crores in February 2010. There was one bidder for this project. The other two are Farakka Raiganj Highways Ltd and Raiganj Dalkhola Highways Ltd. The three concessions were awarded on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis with a cumulative grant of Rs. 1033 crore. The first section was from Baharampore to Farakka (103 km), the second from Farakka to Raiganj (103 km) and the third between Raiganj and Dalkhola (50 km). These projects were to be implemented by three separate special purpose vehicles (SPVs) viz. Baharampore- Farakka Highways Ltd. (BFHL), Farakka-Raiganj Highways Ltd. (FRHL) and Raiganj-Dalkhola Highways Limited (RDHL) respectively. The total project cost initial cost was estimated to Rs.9987.9 million (US$ 218 million). Financing was signed on 28 Sep 2010. Financing comprised Rs5.61bn 16-year 5months debt, a government grant estimated to be US$75.3 million (one third of the grant for the three projects US$225.9 million), and the remaining equity. The debt was arranged by YES Bank. The facility was to be repaid in 52 quarterly installments following a 2.5-year grace period. Final allocations saw the lead take Rs951.7 million. Participants Allahabad Bank gave Rs910 million and Indian Bank contributed Rs900 million. India Infrastructure Finance (IIFCL) pledged Rs750 million, while Vijaya Bank joined in with Rs600 million. Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank and Corporation Bank gave Rs550 million, Rs500 million and Rs450 million respectively.