SPV Constituted By NHAI Mops Up Rs 10,000 Crore To Fund Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

DME Development, a wholly National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), has been successful in raising Rs. 9,731 crore to partially fund the 1,276 Km long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

Of the Rs. 9,731 crore, a major share of capital, Rs. 5,000 crore, came from State Bank of India. Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank and Bank of Maharashtra helped raise the rest of the capital, NHAI said in a statement.

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is a greenfield project, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 87,453 crore, of which Rs. 53,849 crore will be exclusively spent on construction, raised through a combination of debt and equity including land acquisition costs estimated at Rs 20,589 crore.

NHAI also said the project will soon tie up with other institutions, to raise another Rs. 38,733 crore, which will fulfil capital requirements of the project.

DME Developers is AAA rated by CRISIL, CARE and India Rating, and has a monetisation potential of between Rs. 50,000 crore and Rs. 80,000 crore.

DME developer’s debt re-payment will be ensured trough toll revenues once the project is complete. However, to assure financial stability of the model, NHAI is already adding five operational toll plazas on the existing Delhi-Mumbai highway under DME developers.

The 1,276 Km long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project is one of the flagship projects of Bharatmala Pariyojna. It will be executed under 48 sub-projects, of which 24 are already under construction, while 17 are awarded and work will begin soon.

The project is expected to be complete by March 2023.

NHAI constituted the SPV in August of last year, solely to diversify resource base, and develop easy and sustainable liquidating approaches.