Maple Highways completes acquisition of India's first solar-powered expressway

14 Nov 2022 CW Team

Maple Highways, a dedicated India road investment platform created by global investment group CDPQ, today announced it has completed the acquisition of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) that encircles the National Capital Region (NCR).

Valued at Rs 62.67 billion, the purchase of the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is the largest road transaction to occur as part of the Union Government's Asset Monetization Programme this year.

The 135 km six-lane express highway has been in operation since 2018 and was designed to decongest Delhi of commercial traffic, and runs through the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh down the eastern side of the NCR. All lighting and other utilities along the expressway are fully solar-powered.

Popularly known as National Expressway 2, EPE is India's first Intelligent Transport System (ITS) enabled road. It is equipped with a drip irrigation system and rainwater harvesting structures every 500 metres. It has a closed loop tolling system and 99% of its revenue is collected through electronic tolling, using the interoperable RFID tag, known to millions of drivers as FASTag.

For CDPQ, the acquisition is a major step forward in building a scaled portfolio of strategically located, long-term revenue-generating road assets in India. Earlier this year, Maple Highways also completed the acquisition of the Shree Jagannath Expressway, a 67 km toll road project from Bhubaneswar to Chandikhole, in Odisha, eastern India.

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