NEW DELHI: Accelerated monetisation of highway assets has enabled the NHAI to prepay loans of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore and repay another Rs 31,300 crore since March 2022, reducing its overall debt to just under Rs 2 lakh crore, according to govt data.NHAI’s debt had touched an all-time high of Rs 3.5 lakh crore in 2021-22, raising concerns over its sustainability. Since 2022-23, the highways authority has not been allowed to borrow directly from the market, as it was doing in the past, and instead the Centre has included it as part of its borrowings and shown it as govt capex. As a result, budgetary allocation for the highways sector has risen sharply – from Rs 31,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 3.1 lakh crore in the current financial year.“We have maintained the accelerated pace of highway construction while continuing to focus on asset monetisation. This strategy will continue, and we are hopeful of reducing the debt burden further. The assets offered by NHAI have assured revenue streams and carry minimal risk for investors. As a result, they have been receiving a strong response,” an NHAI official said.Data showed that asset monetisation had hit record high at Rs 41,079 crore in FY24, in the past two years it was in the range of Rs 28,000-29,000 crore. NHAI has set the target to raise around Rs 30,000 crore from monetising NH projects during the current financial year.As per data, NHAI has raised Rs 63,911 crore from monetisation of completed 3,175 km under Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model since 2018-19 while another Rs 59,588 crore has been generated from placing 2,913 km under the InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust).
