Only 3 projects are NPAs, says NHAI.

Drowning out the noise about road projects being under stress, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced a proud achievement. Only three national highway projects have turned non-performing assets (NPAs), it has said, adding that the total outstanding loan is Rs. 164 crore.

The highway projects that have been declared NPAs are the Gwalior Jhansi Expressways (Rs. 92.75 crore outstanding loan with Punjab National Bank as lead banker), Raipur Expressway (Rs. 36.91 crore outstanding with State Bank of Travancore as lead banker) and Abhijeet Hazaribagh Toll Road (Rs. 34 crore outstanding with State Bank of India as lead banker).

This, however, does not mean that the remaining projects are in the pink of health. Several face time and cost over-runs for various reasons, including promoters not being able to put in equity, delayed land acquisition or environment clearance, toll revenues being lower and the ban on mining.

HBL