Topworth Tollways (Ujjain) Private Limited

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On 6th May 2010, the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) signed a 20-year concession (including construction period of 2 years) with a consortium of Topworth Infra Pvt Ltd (India) and MCC Overseas Ltd (China) for the strengthening, improvement,four-laning,operation and maintenance of 95.22kms of Ujjain to Jaora section in Madhya Pradesh.The project involves the section of road that starts from the 59.40km Ujjain–Agar Road (SH-27) T-intersection and terminates at the T-intersection near Jaora town at the 132.80km point of the Jaora–Nayagaon four-lane road (SH-31).It covers two districts – Ratlam and Ujjain in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Under the contract, the consortium was responsible for the design, construction,finance, operation and maintenance,strengthening and widening the existing carriageway to 4-lane road. The scope included construction of new pavement,rehabilitation of existing pavement, construction and/or rehabilitation of major and minor bridges, culverts, road intersections,interchanges, drains, etc.The expansion project, part of MPRDC Highway Development Project, was expected to ease traffic congestion and give significant stimulus to trade and commerce in the entire region. The consortium of Topworth Infra Pvt Ltd (TIPL) and MCC Overseas Ltd (MCCOL is the wholly owned subsidiary of Metallurgical Corporation of China), established Topworth Tollways (Ujjain) Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle, to implement the project. The SPV won the tender through international competitive bidding, conducted by MPRDC in March 2010, by quoting the highest premium. Details of bidding were not known at the time of collection of this information. 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 6th May 2010. The project attained financial closure on 5th January 2011. The debt equity ratio of the project was 56:44. The estimated capital cost of the project at the time of financial closure was US$ 49.3 (INR 2220 mn @ 45 INR/USD) million. Financing comprised INR 1243.2mn 13year 8months term loan and INR 976.8mn sponsor equity. The term loan had a grace period of 14months and a repayment schedule of 44 quarterly instalments.The debt was arranged by SBI Capital Markets. The particpating banks were State Bank of India(800mn), and Dena Bank Ltd(443.2mn). Construction on the project began in January 2011 and was expected to be completed by May 2012.