IRB Pathankot Amritsar Toll Road Private Limited

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In July 2009, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) awarded a 20 year concession (including construction period of 910 days) to a consortium of India’s IRB Infrastructure Limited and MRM Private Limited for the strengthening, improvement, widening, operation and maintenance, and tolling of a 102 km stretch on National Highway-15(NH-15 from Km.6.082 to Km.108.502) in the state of Punjab. Under the contract, the consortium was responsible for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance and widening of the existing two-lane highway to a four-lane highway with paved shoulders. The expansion project, part of National Highway Development Project Phase - III, was expected to ease traffic congestion and give significant stimulus to trade and commerce in the entire region. The consortium of IRB and MRM established IRB Pathankot Amritsar Toll Road Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle, to implement the project. The consortium won the tender through competitive bidding, conducted by NHAI, by requesting for the lowest subsidy requirement of US$ 26.2 million (INR 1269 million @ 48.41 INR/USD). Under the contract, the SPV was to recover the capital costs and operating costs including returns through tolling during the term of concession. Other bidding details were not available at the time of collection of this information. The concession agreement was signed in November 16th, 2009, and construction was expected to be completed by Nov 2012. The project achieved financial closure in March 2010. The estimated capital cost of the project at the time of bidding was US$ 246 million (INR 11910 mn @ 48.41 INR/USD) million. The debt equity ratio was 64/36.