Roads, the prime mode of transportation in India carry almost 80 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and 65 percent of its freight. With a density of 0.66 km of highway per square kilometer of land India’s highway network is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and much greater than China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20). India boasts of 3.3 million Kms of highways, with 80,000 Kms of National highways and 1, 31,000 Kms of State highways. Indian roads experienced a 10.16% CAGR of growth of vehicles in the last five years. Arun Lakhani spotted this opportunity way back in 2000 and incorporated it in the projects for Vishvaraj Infrastructure limited (VIL) and tactically decided to stay focused on BOT projects. It made a modest start with the development of 8.3 Km Bypass road on BOT basis, which was one of the first BOT concessions awarded at that time. Those were tough times for the industry with stiff resistance from key stakeholders i.e. the commuters for paying toll for using the road. However, the concept matured well over time and VIL completed 4 projects well within stipulated construction time, the concession period for these range from 15 to 30 years. Mr. Arun Lakhani says keeping company with the nation on move is extremely important and hence we need to develop good transport in India.
For instance take the Warora – Chandrapur – Ballarpur Project that has been a forerunner in the transport sector at Vishvaraj Infra (VIL). It is a four laning 64 km of Warora to Chandrapur to Ballarpur to Bamni in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra , under a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (“DBFOT”) model. The Project SPV: Warora Chandrapur Ballarpur Toll Road Ltd jointly sponsored by , Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd. IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd. and Diva Media Pvt. Ltd. It is a Public Works Department, Maharashtra. The project value is USD 115 Mn and the project has been active since January, 2015.
Other projects at Vishavaraj Infrastructure Limited with the transport sector are Chandwad – Manmad – Nandgaon Project, Malegaon – Manmad – Kopergaon Project and Fekri and VAPI over bridge Projects.