Bangalore Elevated Tollway Ltd, a SPV formed by Soma Enterprises along with Nagarjuna Construction Co and Maytas Infra Pvt Ltd, has bagged a BOT contract from NHAI for development of a 10 km elevated toll expressway on the Bangalore-Hosur section on NH-7 in Karnataka. The concession agreement was signed with NHAI on 25 January 2006.

The project costing Rs.765 crore has a negative grant of Rs.16 crore. The BOT operator will collect toll charges for a period of 20 years under the direct tolling method. The selected develop will construct the project within 30 months from February 2006, when work is likely to begin.

The stretch from Bangalore to Electronic City, which is a part of NH-7, is an important section of the National Highways network and is a part of both the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South Corridor.

The 14-lane highway will involve an elevated four-lane expressway apart from a six-lane ground level highway and a two-lane ground level service road, taking the total number of lanes to 14.

Project Financing: BETL is going to approach IDFC, ICICI and SBI for project financing, it is learnt. Each of the three consortium partners is likely to bring 20 per cent of the total project cost, while the remaining 40 per cent (Rs.306 crore.) would come from debt. IDFC is likely to emerge as the lead financier. Financial closure is targeted by July 2006.

In July 2005, NHAI had selected the said consortium following opening of the technical and financial bids on 5 July 2005. BETL outbid other players like L&T, HCC, Gammon India and GMR Infrastructure.