Farakka Raiganj Highways Ltd

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Farakka Raiganj Highways Ltd was created to expand from 2 to 4 lanes Farraka and Raiganj section of NH-34 (103 km) in the state of West Bengal and operate it under a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis. Farakka Raiganj Highways Ltd was a wholly owned subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company Limited and covered in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. The concessionaire agreed to undertake all expenditure to complete the project and recover the same by toll fees fee for 30 years including a construction period of 30 months. The project was one of the three projects awarded to Hindustan Construction Co Ltd by the National Highway Authority of India 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. The other two are Baharampore Farakka 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 bidding criteria was the minimum subsidy. 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 Rs10, 787.4 million (US$ 235.9 million). Financing was signed on 28 Sep 2010. Financing comprised Rs7.16bn 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 rest in equity. The debt was arranged by YES Bank. Construction began at the end of October 2010.