<center><b>Webinar on</b></center>
  <center><b>Challenges and Opportunities in HAM & BOT Projects
  </b></center>
  <center><b>April 23, 2021</b></center>
  
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  ASSOCHAM organized a Webinar on Challenges and Opportunities in HAM & BOT
Projects on April 23, 2021. The Webinar was inaugurated by Shri Nitin Gadkari,
Hon&apos;ble Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Govt of India. Industry
Speakers included;   Vineet Agarwal, President, ASSOCHAM,   B K Goenka, Past
President, ASSOCHAM,   D K Sen, Chairman, National Council, Roads and
Highways, ASSOCHAM,   Vinod Agarwal, Co-Chairman, National Council on Roads
and Highways, ASSOCHAM,   TVS Reddy, Co-Chairman, Roads and Highways,
ASSOCHAM, Shri Ashutosh Chandwar, Chairman, National Council on Underground
Construction and Tunneling, ASSOCHAM, and   Deepak Sood, Secretary-General,
ASSOCHAM.
</p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  Following major issues and suggestions emerged from the discussions:
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679;   Nitin Gadkari, Hon'ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways and MSME
  during an interactive meeting with ASSOCHAM members said that ''a welldeveloped infrastructure enhances the level of economic activity, creates additional
  fiscal space by improving revenue base of the Government, and ensures the quality
  of expenditure focused on productive areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused
  a slowdown in India, but its inherent resilience and capabilities will help it transform
  into a new India with an accelerated growth path fueled by infrastructure. The
  Government has given a massive push to the economy by allocating about $1.4
  trillion for infrastructure to be invested until 2025. The highways sector in India has
  been at the forefront of performance and innovation and the government has
  successfully rolled out several projects on the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for
  building National Highways to speed up the construction of roads in the country by
  renewing interest of private developers''.
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679; The Minister informed that the Ministry is setting up a committee under the
chairmanship of   K. Venkataramanan to reduce the dependency on steel
and cement to reduce the cost of construction and look for alternatives.
</p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679;   Gadkari stated that all steel - whether produced from ore, billets, pellets, or
melting of scrap - would be allowed to be used for National Highway
construction, as long as it meets the standards required for specific grades of
steel. The steel proposed to be used would be tested in NABL-accredited
laboratories as a third-party check before approval. He informed that his
ministry has managed to achieve three world records recently. ''Firstly, we
have managed to achieve a record by constructing 37 km of road per day
during 2020-21. Secondly, the construction of a 2.5 km four-lane concrete road
was achieved in a matter of 24 hours. Our ministry also achieved a record by
constructing a 26 km one-lane road in 24 hours flat. This is due to the efforts
put by our engineers, contractors, and workers''
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679;   Gadkari added that the Ministry has constructed 13,327 KM of National
Highways up to March 2021 as compared to 10,237 Km in March 2020. "The
award figure is 10,965 km during this period as compared to 8,948 km in the
previous year. This kind of performance was never done earlier," He also
mentioned that the Ministry has decided that all lanes in the fee plazas on
National Highways shall be declared as ''FASTag lane of the fee plaza'' with
effect from midnight of 15th February 2021. "As per NH Fee Rules 2008, any
vehicle not fitted with FASTag or vehicle without valid, functional FASTag
entering into the FASTag lane of the fee plaza, shall pay a fee equivalent to
two times of the fee applicable to that category. This has been done to further
promote fee payment through digital mode, reduce waiting time and fuel
consumption and provide for a seamless passage through the fee plazas," He
informed.

  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'> 
  &#9679;   Vineet Agarwal, President, ASSOCHAM stated that the Complexities of
infrastructure development need to be understood to ensure that the
supporting frameworks are effective. "Lack of infrastructure is the primary
growth constraint and government looks to the private sector to partner in
developing the same. Designing effective co-working models between the
public and private sectors would be a step towards efficient delivery," he said.
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679; Sharing his perspective,   Deepak Sood, Secretary-General, ASSOCHAM
explained that the highways sector in India has been at the forefront of
performance and innovation and the government has successfully rolled out
several projects on the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) for building National
Highways to speed up the construction of roads in the country by renewing
interest of private developers. "Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) and Build
Operate and Transfer (BOT) model is attracting the interest of growing thrust
towards privatization and private sector participation in the development of
public infrastructure projects in India," he said.
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679;   Balkrishan Goenka, Past-President, ASSOCHAM stated that the
  government has given relief to PPP- Toll projects by giving extra time for Toll
  collection due to pandemic. "However, for HAM projects the only way to
  compensate for the losses due to the pandemic is to compensate for the cost
  incurred for interest during construction. A request is that interest on debt
  amounts outstanding at the beginning of March 2020 be compensated at the
  MCLR plus 1.25 for a period of 6 months," said   Goenka, Chairman,
  Welspun Group.
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679;   D K Sen, Chairman, Roads and Highways Council, ASSOCHAM
mentioned that "keeping the momentum in infrastructure is important as it
contributes heavily to the economic growth along with creating a large
workforce. Under the present Government, the sector has seen a great
transformation as INR 20 lac crore will be spent in the next 5 years. He
suggested that some parts of road projects should be constructed through
concrete so as to fully utilize the large number of equipments for making
concrete roads".
  </p>
  <p style='text-align:justify;'>
  &#9679; Shri Vinod Agarwal, Co-Chairman, Roads & Highways Council, ASSOCHAM
  stated that "Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) is an interesting model since it can be
  widely applied to many diverse sectors and blends some financing with
  performance risk transfer. HAM project by its very nature requires long-term
  funding i.e. more than 15 years and hence linking the short-term interest rates
  for a long-term tenure project is a structural issue that needs a relook as the
  Concessionaires also suffered losses on account of lockdown. Shri Agarwal
  also added that "presently there are not many financial structures available to
  the road projects; the primary form of finance is the bank finance in the form of
  a Rupee Term loan".
  </p>