Navayuga Jahnavi Toll Bridge Private Limited

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On 8th October 2010, the Bihar State Road Development Corporation Limited (BSRDC),signed a 30 year concession (including construction period of 36 months) to Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL) for the development of a four-lane greenfield bridge across river Ganga (5.55 km) and its approach roads (45.393 km), and operation and maintenance thereof, in the state of Bihar. Under the contract, Navayuga was responsible for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the bridge. The scope includes development of a four-lane greenfield bridge across river Ganga (5.55 km) and its approach roads (45.393 km). The bridge would connect Bakhtiyarpur (Patna district) on NH 31 and Tajpur (Samastipur district) on NH 28 and will give significant stimulus to trade and commerce in the entire region. The sponsor Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL), established Navayuga Jahnavi Toll Bridge Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle, to implement the project. The SPV won the tender through international competitive bidding, conducted by BSRDC, during march-May 2010, by quoting the lowest VGF (Viability Gap Fund) grant from the Government of 38.93% of the total project cost (about US$ 130mn). Under the contract, the SPV was to recover the capital costs and operating costs including returns through tolling during the term of concession and the funding from VGF. The concession agreement was signed in October 2010. The project attained financial closure on April 2011. The debt/equity/grant ratio of the project was 45/18/37. The estimated capital cost of the project at the time of financial closure was US$ 355.5mn (INR 15996 mn @ 45 INR/USD) million. Financing comprised INR 7200mn 15-year term loan, INR 2946mn sponsor equity, and INR 5850mn grant from Central (INR 2775mn) and State governments (INR3075mn). The INR 7890mn term loan had a repayment schedule of 44 quarterly instalments.The particpating banks were Andhra Bank(600mn), India Infrastructure Finance Co Ltd (2000mn), ICICI Bank Ltd(800mn), Punjab National Bank(1200mn),State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur(600mn), State Bank of Hyderabad(2000mn). Reserve Bank of India documents lists an ECB borrowing amounting to US$ 44.4million (tenor of 5-years 11-months) in May 2011 by Navayuga Jahnavi Toll Bridge Private Limited, however it couldnot be ascertained whether the INR 7200mn debt syndication noted above had any ECB component or whether any part of the INR 7200mn Term loan had been refinanced by way of cheaper USD loans. Construction on the project began in April 2011 and was expected to be completed by April 2014.