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COVER STORY

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has granted the 162 monetize 13 classes of core assets of estimated value of `6 trillion
km length road Highway (New NH-365BG) as part of the Economic over FY22-FY25. The core assets include – roads, railways, power
Corridor under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, aiming at connecting transmission, power generation, telecom, warehousing, mining,
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States with the robust road national gas pipelines, product pipelines/others, aviation, urban
infrastructure that supports the speed of 100 km/hour. The total real estate, ports and stadiums. For the purpose of monetization,
project cost is `2,600 crore. revenue-generating core assets or assets which have reached
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently completed significant stage of completion are considered. According to
excavation of the first tunnel from Priyadarshini Park towards Marine Ind-Ra, for the successful implementation of asset monetization
Drive for the Mumbai Coastal Road with the help of India’s largest pipeline, brownfield de-risked assets should be monetized to
‘Mawla’ TBM plant. As part of the 10.58-km coastal road project generate stable revenue streams. Moreover, selection of private
from Princess Street Flyover at Marine Lines to the Worli end of partners should be through a transparent mechanism and utilisation
Bandra-Worli Sea Link, the BMC is constructing 2.07-km twin tunnels of the proceeds received towards well-defined uses such as new
between Priyadarshini Park to Girgaon Chowpatty passing under infrastructure creation.
Malabar Hill and the Arabian Sea near the coast. The ‘breakthrough’
of this tunnel mining work took place today at Girgaon Chowpatty. UPPING THE SECURITY LANDSCAPE
The excavation for the second tunnel will commence in April 2022. The development of infrastructure in India’s northeast is key to the
The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. nation’s so-called Look East policy, focusing on southeast Asia.
In FY23, CRISIL predicts that NHAI will sustain its FY 22 momentum India has been working on a raft of road and bridge projects to
and award 4,000-4,500 km of road projects. With a strong pipeline improve connectivity with Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar.
of projects under Bharatmala, Modi Government’s flagship scheme This comes in the backdrop of Japan partnering with India to
for building greenfield expressways and the ambitious `100 lakh aggressively develop infrastructure projects in Arunachal Pradesh,
crore National Infrastructure Pipeline, the NHAI will be able to Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and
continue the rapid pace of road construction. The likely pace of Tripura, in an attempt to contain China’s influence. According to a
awards, coupled with the government’s sharp focus on clearing leading daily, an India-Japan Coordination Forum for Development
land acquisition issues and ensuring swift payments, bode well for of North East is being set up to focus on strategic projects such
NHAI’s execution target of 4,300-4,600 km of roads this financial as connectivity and road network development, electricity and
year and another 4,500-5,000 km in the next. disaster management.
Similarly, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) stated that the JICA, Japan’s funding agency, has supported improving and
National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) will unlock capital through constructing prioritized national highways (Total 523km) through the
the monetisation of de-risked brownfield assets. NMP will reinforce Northeast Connectivity Improvement Projects (Phase 1 - Phase 3).
government’s focus on infrastructure spending and augment Phase 1 project is currently under implementation to improve and
capital creation for new infrastructure development. It aims to construct NH51 from Tura to Daru (51.5km) in Meghalaya state

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