Indian gov't invites Malaysian builders to participate in highway projects

India's Road Transport and Highways Ministry has invited Malaysian construction firms to participate in the country's highway building projects under a new Private-Public Partnership scheme -- Hybrid Annuity. Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Vijay Chhibber, said under the scheme, the Indian government would bear 40 per cent of the building cost and the developers will invest the rest through equity and debt financing. "Under the new hybrid annuity model, not only the government will support 40 per cent of the project cost in five equal instalments, it will also bear the revenue risk in projects with a low anticipation of traffic flow," he said at the one-day workshop on the Hybrid Annuity Model here today. Some 100 participants attended the event which was organised by the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board. Vijay said so far about 17 highway projects worth US$2.7 billion (US$1 = RM3.70) have been identified to be awarded under the new scheme in the next six months. "Malaysian contractors are invited to participate via direct participation in the project bid and association with selected bidders as engineering, procurement and commissioning contractors," he said. To date, Malaysian companies have completed 53 highway or road projects in India worth US$2.7 billion.