The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday said it has formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to fast-track the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project. The NHAI is currently implementing about 28,000-km projects under 'Bharatmala Pariyojna' Phase-1. Under this, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one of the flagship highways corridors.

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"NHAI has proceeded to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company for financing, construction and operation of the Delhi-Mumbai 'Greenfield' Expressway," the company said in a statement.

The SPV has been registered by the name of 'DME Development Ltd' and will be wholly owned by NHAI, it said.

"By floating SPV specific to a corridor, the NHAI is aiming at diversifying its resource base and developing a sustainable and self liquidating approach to raise finances," it said.

Spanning 1,275 km, it will be an eight-lane expressway with provision to expand to 12-lanes in the future, with a design speed of 120 km/hr and will be India's longest 'Greenfield Expressway'.

The NHAI said the corridor will be completely access controlled with a closed tolling.

It added a network of 75-way side amenities is also planned on either side of the expressways at an interval of 50 km.

"The project has a capital cost of Rs 82,514 crore which includes land acquisition cost of Rs 20,928 crore. Considering the significance of the project, the authority has decided to invest the full equity and proceed with the development," the statement said.

SPV shall raise debt on its balance sheet, while the NHAI retains the operational control during construction and O&M, it added.

"In addition, 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," the NHAI said.

The completion of the expressway is projected by March 2024.

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The NHAI said it plans to form similar SPVs for other high value highway projects and added that this will further enhance NHAI capabilities to execute large-scale infrastructure projects of national importance.