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NHAI offers 30-year land lease to private players to develop wayside amenities on highways

The new policy mandates grant of land to a private party for development of the wayside amenities on lease of up to thirty years

Ashutosh Kumar | February 15, 2021 | Updated 15:55 IST
A notification issued by the ministry of road transport and highways on the matter said that the land already purchased by the NHAI will be provided to private party on a lease

The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry has come out with a new policy on the development of wayside amenities on the national highways and expressways on land belonging to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or a private party on the alignment of a project.  

The new policy mandates grant of land to a private party for development of the wayside amenities on lease of up to thirty years.  

A notification issued by the ministry of road transport and highways on the matter said that the land already purchased by the NHAI will be provided to private party on a lease . "The period of lease shall not be more than 30 years for sites with no constructed asset, i.e. in cases where the Wayside Amenity will have to be completely developed by the private party/ developer," the notification said.  

"The period of lease shall not be more than 15 years for sites where the authority has already undertaken construction of wayside amenity," the notification said.  

The land for development of the wayside amenities on the national highways will be awarded on competitive basis to the party quoting the highest annual revenue share amount. NHAI will assess the potential revenue for each amenity site depending upon the land cost, footfall, traffic volume, and nearby competitive facilities, among others.

"The bid may be accepted if the total annual realization to the authority -- annual rental and estimated revenue share -- is at least 5% of the land cost. After expiry of the lease period the facility created shall be handed over to NHAI, which can again be leased out on competitive basis. If the bid of the existing developer is within 10% of the highest quoted bid the existing developer may again be awarded the site if developer intends so and matches the price of the highest bidder," the notification added.  

For land belonging to private party, no fee shall be charged by the authority for permitting to construct wayside amenities. The site shall be selected by inviting applications and the one which meets the stated norms will be allowed to build the amenity.