India, May 16 -- In an effort to attract greater private investments into the highway and expressway sectors, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has widened the bidders' scope by modifying the bidding conditions for Build-Operate-Transfer (Toll) projects.

The new changes mark a paradigm shift ever since the sector was opened to private players in the early 2000s. "So far, only highway developers and construction companies were eligible to bid for such projects, but now the government has allowed venture capital, private equity, infrastructure and pension funds to bid for highway projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model," said MoRTH Secretary V Umshankar.

Under a modified request for proposal (RFP) frame...