NHAI's total outstanding debt stands at ₹3.49 lakh crore

The state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has a total outstanding debt of around ₹3.49 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Parliament. He added that the fund required by NHAI for debt servicing in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be ₹31,282 crore, ₹31,909 crore and ₹30,552 crore, respectively.

Gadkari said the monetisation plan of operational highway stretches - which have the largest share of ₹1.6 lakh crore of the total asset monetisation plan of ₹6 lakh crore over a period of four years, i.e. FY22 to FY25, as per the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) announced recently by the Centre - includes 26,700 km of highways of four lanes.

The minister informed that till date, NHAI has monetised 26 stretches under toll-operate-transfer (TOT) and InvIT modes of monetisation. He added that the total budgetary outlay of the road ministry under BE 2022-23 is ₹1,99,107.71 crore.

In reply to a separate question, Gadkari said that states including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh have confirmed that they are following the provision of the Motor Vehicle Act as well are adhering to the notification issued thereunder to ensure the appropriate electronic enforcement devices on National Highways at high risk and high-density corridors. However, the remaining states and UTs have not yet confirmed this.

In August last year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a notification for electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety, which requires state governments to ensure that appropriate electronic enforcement devices are placed at high risk and high-density corridors on National Highways.

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