National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Company to finance the construction and operation of the Delhi-Mumbai Greenfield Expressway. "NHAI has proceeded to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company for financing, construction and operation of the Delhi-Mumbai 'Greenfield' Expressway," the company said in a statement.

The upcoming 1,275 km long expressway will be 8-laned with provision to expand it into 12-lanes in future. This will also be the country's longest Greenfield Expressway with a design speed of 120 km per hour and is likely to be completed by March 2024.

The NHAI is currently implementing about 28,000-km projects under "Bharatmala Pariyojna" Phase-1. Under this, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one of the flagship highways corridors.

The SPV has been registered as "DME Development Ltd" and is wholly owned by NHAI, it added. "By floating SPV specific to a corridor, the NHAI is aiming at diversifying its resource base and developing a sustainable and self-liquidating approach to raise finances," it said.

The statement added, "The project has a capital cost of Rs 82,514 crore which includes land acquisition cost of Rs 20,928 crore. Considering the significance of the project, the authority has decided to invest the full equity and proceed with the development."

SPV shall raise debt on its balance sheet, while the NHAI retains the operational control during construction and O&M, it added. "In addition, the toll on the projects housed in SPV shall be collected by NHAI and SPV shall get the annuity payments without any construction and tolling risks," the NHAI said.

NHAI has decided to invest the full equity and said that it plans to form similar SPVs for other high-value highway projects and that this will further enhance NHAI's capabilities to execute large-scale infrastructure projects of national importance.

(With agency inputs)