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IRB Infrastructure Developers has announced it has achieved financial closure for the Udaipur – Gujarat Border 6 Laning project.

Udaipur Tollway Pvt. Ltd. (UTPL), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the project, in terms of the Concession Agreement executed with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), has tied up with a consortium of lenders for project finance to the tune of INR14.6 billion (US$225.6 million).

The consortium of lenders is led by Canara Bank. Other members include: Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Indian Overseas Bank, Andhra Bank and Aditya Birla Finance.

UTPL entered into a Concession Agreement to develop, operate and maintain the project. The concession period of the project is 21 years from the Appointed Date. The company was entrusted to expand a 113.8 km section of NH 8 project road starts from end of Udaipur bypass (Km 287.400 of NH 8) and ends in Gujarat (Km 401.200 of NH 8) from four lanes to six lanes on a DBFOT basis.

The estimated project cost is approximately INR21 billion (US$324 million) with a period of concession of 21 years, including construction period of 910 days. This work will be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V.

IRB Infrastructure  bagged this project by offering the premium of INR16.4 billion (US$252.9 million) to NHAI. Now, having achieved financial closure, the SPV can commence construction soon.

While commenting on the development, Mr. Virendra D. Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director said:

“We thank the Consortium of lenders to continue to show trust in us and our Projects, and providing finance for this project. This demonstrates our strength, domain expertise and execution capacities.” He added, “Now having achieved financial closure on one out of the three NHAI Projects awarded last fiscal, the Company can bid competitively for upcoming NHAI projects.”