NHAI IPO soon :Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai Sept 18: The ministry of road transport has initiated the process for public listing of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the nodal agency for the development, maintenance, and management of highways in the country.

Nitin Gadkari, the minister for road transport and highways told media that "We have started the process (for the listing).We need an approval from the finance ministry".

Minister has added that "I have no problem with money… if banks take too much time in granting approvals we will offer them as EPC projects. I am confident that if we take NHAI to the market we will get interest as much as Rs 10 lakh crore ".

EPC or engineering, procurement, construction is an agreement where the government gives out road building contracts to contractors after the acquisition of land and environmental clearances. The contractor has to design and execute the project and hand it to the government for a fee.

Finally, experts believe that IPO of NHAI would be successful similar to the Initial Public Offering of Cochin Shipyard which was subscribed 76 times and government reaped benefits.