National Highways Authority of India forms SPV to fund Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company for financing, construction and operation of the Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai expressway.

The 1,300-km long Delhi-Mumbai greenfield expressways is one of the flagship projects of Bharatamala, India’s highways development program.

The SPV has been registered under the name of ‘DME Development Ltd.’ and will be wholly owned by NHAI, a source told ET.


“We are moving swiftly on the SPV mode, depending on the success of the model, it will be replicated in other greenfield projects as well,” the person said.

The SPV shall raise debt on its balance sheet, while NHAI will retain the operational control during construction and operation and maintenance periods. The toll on the projects housed in SPV shall be collected by NHAI and SPV shall get the annuity payments without any construction and tolling risks.

ET was the first to report in May last year that NHAI was looking to form an SPV for the Delhi-Mumbai expressway. The initial plan, however, was to rope in equity partners to fund the project.