NHAI's debt at Rs 3.48 lakh cr; Gadkari dismisses authority under financial stress

NEW DELHI: The total debt outstanding of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) till March 2022 was Rs 3.48 lakh crore, the road transport ministry informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The government data show that there has been nearly 15-fold increase in the debt in the past eight years as the pace of construction of highways and expressways annually has also increased by three times during this period.
In a written reply to a question from BJP lawmaker Sushil Kumar Modi, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari submitted to the house that the NHAI will pay back a total of Rs 1.59 lakh crore as interest and redemption of the debt in five years, from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
Responding to a question from Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, Gadkari dismissed all concerns over NHAI’s growing debt. “The NHAI finances are not at all under stress. The authority has AAA rating. There will be no crunch of funds even if we increase the length of NHs and make more greenfield (new alignment) expressways to transform our road infrastructure,” he said. Gadkari also claimed that the NHAI and his ministry have the appetite to carry out works of Rs 5 lakh crore annually.
On the plan to raise funds for projects, the ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that the government has set the target to monetise 26,000 km of completed NHs and expressways by 2024-25. Highway sector has the largest share of Rs 1.6 lakh crore of the total asset monetisation plan of Rs 6 lakh crore over the next four years. “In addition, the NHAI envisages raising of Rs 15,000 crore from SPV and Rs 30,000 crore is investment envisaged from private sector participation,” he said.