Is NHAI a Massive Financial Mess? PMO Action Suggests It Is

Moneylife Digital Team
27 August 2019  6   

Even as the prime minister's office (PMO) has reportedly suggested to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that it should discontinue constructing roads and monetise assets, Brijeshwar Singh, former chairman of the Authority told a news channel that NHAI is piling a huge debt of Rs1.78 lakh crore by 2019, up from Rs40,000 crore in 2014.

LiveMint, quoting from a letter sent by Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the prime minister, to Sanjeev Ranjan, secretary, ministry of road transport and highways, says, "NHAI was 'totally logjammed by an unplanned and excessive expansion of roads and it is mandated to pay much higher costs for land acquisition and construction'."

“Road infrastructure has become financially unviable; private investors and construction companies are withdrawing from green-field projects," the letter says.

To solve this, the newspaper report says, the PMO has suggested that NHAI aggressively monetise its existing assets – either through the toll-operate-transfer model, where long-term concessions for collecting toll revenues are auctioned to the highest bidder, or through an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).

"The PMO has also suggested that the NHAI can consider becoming a road asset management company and can create a blueprint for the national highway grid to see which roads need to built by 2030. To make projects commercially viable, the PMO has suggested that NHAI should take a critical look at reasons for financial unsustainability and the government can prove viability gap funding if required," the report says.

Meanwhile speaking with CNBC TV18, Mr Singh, the former chairman of NHAI had said that contingent liabilities of the Authority are worrisome and could be double of the balance sheet liabilities. "NHAI has been over generous at estimating traffic growth," he told the channel.
 
Industry sources tell us that the situation is rather grim and the issue had been flagged by the PMO last year. However, in the run up to the election, it was allowed to be buried. The source says, Mr Mishra, Principal Secretary has held over six meetings to discuss NHAI’s debt since September last year. According to this source, the contingent liabilities figure quoted by the former NHAI chairman is also considered conservative and could be higher than Rs3 lakh crore that he suggests. 

All this paints a sorry picture of how infrastructure is being built in the country, even as Union minister Nitin Gadkari continues to announce ambitious new projects and programmes. It is also important to realise that the NHAI issue has a bearing on the resolution of the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) debacle, because it also owes the beleaguered infrastructure company a substantial sum of money.

Renowned investor Prof Sanjay Bakshi has also highlighted rising debt of NHAI in a series of tweets. "NHAI's unsustainable debt, which I had written about in January was estimated to be about Rs1,48,276 crore as of 30 September 2018. Just six months later, by end of March 2019, it had soared to Rs1,78,000 crore," he says.
https://www.moneylife.in/article/is-nhai-a-massive-financial-mess-pmo-action-suggests-it-is/58032.html