NHAI brings down rent for wayside amenities

April 3, 2010

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has brought down its annual rent to 1 per cent from 10 per cent for building wayside amenities on highways across the country.

The roads authority is now seeking rent at one per cent of the cost of the land per annum for the first year. Thereafter, an additional one per cent will be added every year with the rent being capped at 10 per cent.

NHAI plans to develop through private participation an amenity at every 50 km on highways. They would include parking lots, snack bars/restaurants, toilets, restrooms for short stay, first-aid centres, telephone booths, petrol pumps/minor repair shops (optional), kiosks for sale of miscellaneous/sundry items, landscaping and space for spreading awareness on government welfare programmes.

NHAI had earlier received three bids for 29 projects it had put up for tendering. The authority then decided to relax the criteria. The lease period for the projects has also been doubled to 30 years to make them more profitable and attract more bids.

Among other changes, NHAI has relaxed the pre-qualification norms. Any private participant with only a year of experience can apply for building the wayside amenities. Earlier, private participants required to have an experience of five years.

The authority had not found takers for 26 wayside amenity projects even after four-five attempts. To make the projects viable, NHAI has now hired consultants to find potential sites along the East-West and North-South corridors. The field officers of NHAI have also been directed to identify at least one site for development of comprehensive wayside amenities.

Source: business-standard.com