New Delhi:
To expedite highway projects, additional fund sources are being tapped and a private investment of Rs 30,000 crore is being envisaged in 2021-22 through hybrid annuity mode (HAM) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects, a top highways ministry official said on Friday.

This is in addition to the budgetary resources and internal & extra-budgetary resources (IEBR), he said.

''In addition to the budgetary resources and IEBR, additional fund generation sources are being tapped for highway projects and an expected private investement of Rs 30,000 crore in 2021-22 through HAM and BOT projects,'' Road Transport and Highways Secretary Giridhar Aramane told reporters here.

Also, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has monetised two bundles of TOT (toll-operate-transfer) comprising nine projects each with length of 681 and 566 km, and received a bid amount of Rs 9,681 crore and Rs 5,011 crore, respectively, he said. ''In addition, bidding for two TOT bundles in total length of about 54 km and 106 km are underway,'' the sectrary said.

Aramane said the InvIT (infrastructure investment trust) mechanism is being launched to generate funds from foreign and domestic institutional investors, and five operational roads have been identified to be transferred to InvIT.

The issue may take place in March 2021 to raise expected funds of Rs 5,000 crore, he added.

About the National Infrastructure Pipeline, the secretary said the current target for the national highways sector is to take up the implementation of 1,820 projects by 2024-25 in about 89,300 km for a total estimated cost of Rs 19.35 lakh crore.

''Out of this, 86 projects of 4,414 km for Rs 32,000 crore have been completed and 1,059 projects costing Rs 6.70 lakh crore are in progress,'' he said.

Total estimated fund availibility from all sources for NH projects under NIP has increased from about Rs 1.72 lakh crore to Rs 2.02 lakh crore, he said.

Enhanced allocation to the highways sector in Budget 2021-22 will help in faster implementation of projects, he said.

The Union Budget 2021-22 has provided an enhanced outlay of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the highways sector.

There is about 30 per cent increase in the allocation to the highways sector, he added.

An allocation of Rs 91,823 crore was made for the highways sector for 2020-21, which was revised upwards to Rs 1.01 lakh crore.

By March 2022, the government said it would award another 8,500 km and complete an additional 11,000 km of national highway corridors.

The flagship projects that are to be expedited include Delhi-Mumbai Expressway; while for the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway, construction will begin in 2021-22.

The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor work will be initiated in the current financial year, while the Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway project will commence in 2021-22.

Likewise, a 277-km Chennai-Salem corridor will be awarded soon and construction would start next fiscal. In addition, the 464-km Raipur-Visakhapatnam project passing through Chhattisgarh, Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh will be awarded in the current year and construction will start in 2021-22.

Construction of Amritsar-Jamnagar and Delhi-Katra projects will also commence in 2021-22.