IRB Infrastructure bags Rs 7,400-crore Hyderabad Outer Ring Road project

IRB Infrastructure Developers (IRB Infra) on Thursday was awarded the country's second largest road monetisation asset – the 158-kilometer Hyderabad Outer Ring Road in Telangana, the highway infra giant said in a filing. The project is under the Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) model for a revenue-linked concession period of 30 years, and IRB will pay an upfront fee of Rs 7,380 crore.   The project for the toll collection rights was bid out by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) through global bidding, in which the company had participated and emerged as the selected bidder.    According to previous reports, 12 firms, including several foreign investors and pension funds active in India's road infra space and strategic operators like Adani Road Transport, had initially shown interest in the multi-billion project.    However, only four firms — Eagle Infra India, IRB Infra, Dinesh Chandra R Agarwal (DRA) Infracon and Gawar Construction — later made bids for the Outer Ring Road.    With this acquisition, the company has made its entry into Telangana. IRB currently holds road and highway assets in 11 states and union territories.    After successfully completing 13 concessions, and handing them over to the nodal agencies, IRB Group’s project portfolio (including private and public InvIT) includes 24 road projects, that include 18 build-operate-transfer assets, two TOTs, and four hybrid annuity model projects, the firm said.    “Proud to add this project to our portfolio, taking our asset base to over Rs 70,000 crore and share in TOT space to 37 per cent, the largest by any private player in India. We express our sincere gratitude towards all authorities and stakeholders. We endeavor to execute this project through our private InvIT platform," said Virendra D. Mhaiskar, chairman and managing director, IRB Infra.    The company further said that it will make the upfront payment within 120 days of signing of the concession agreement through its project special purpose vehicle (SPV).