The fate of the Rs 2,500 crore Nagpur-Betul highways project is uncertain as the project is not likely to garner investor interest in the wake of the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into allegations of corruption in the tendering process for the project.
Experts feel that even if the allegations are proved otherwise, the project will face hurdles in financial closure if the same company implements it.
“In case of simple litigation when a contender approaches court for bidding-related issues, investors generally stay away from the project. In this case, even if the firm concerned passes the muster, it will have problems in achieving financial closure for the project,” said an industry source who did not wish to be quoted owing to the sensitivity of the issue.
Financiers, too voiced similar concerns.
Another industry source said there is a strong likelihood of tenders being reinvited for the project. While the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is not coming out clearly with the status of the project, experts opine that the project will go in a limbo as financiers will not be willing to take the risk.
Being asked whether the company will still continue with the project, a senior NHAI official said, “The CBI investigations are still on. Nothing can be said at the moment.” The official, however, did not respond to whether any communication has happened with the company on the issue in the last two days.
The CBI on Tuesday raided the premises of the NHAI in connection with the alleged corruption in the tendering of the project, which was awarded to a Delhi-based construction company, Oriental Structural Engineering.
The two officials—a chief general manager and a general manager—apart from the managing director of the company have been remanded to police custody till May 31.
As per the CBI, it has also been alleged that the officers of NHAI in a bid to favour the accused company used to surreptitiously part with key confidential, strategic and vital information to the employees of the accused company during the process of tender and facilitated the calculation of annuity by applying financial parameters on the upper side to enable the accused company to fetch huge pecuniary benefits in the aforesaid award of the contract.
Cash worth Rs 46 lakh and documents of one flat in Gurgaon, one in Jaipur and one in Dwarka, New Delhi have been recovered from one officer. From the residential premises of another officer, located at Delhi and Jaipur, cash of Rs lakh, fixed deposits/NSCs worth Rs 39.5 lakh and documents of two flats and one plot of land in Jaipur have been recovered.
Experts feel that even if the allegations are proved otherwise, the project will face hurdles in financial closure if the same company implements it.
“In case of simple litigation when a contender approaches court for bidding-related issues, investors generally stay away from the project. In this case, even if the firm concerned passes the muster, it will have problems in achieving financial closure for the project,” said an industry source who did not wish to be quoted owing to the sensitivity of the issue.
Financiers, too voiced similar concerns.
Another industry source said there is a strong likelihood of tenders being reinvited for the project. While the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is not coming out clearly with the status of the project, experts opine that the project will go in a limbo as financiers will not be willing to take the risk.
Being asked whether the company will still continue with the project, a senior NHAI official said, “The CBI investigations are still on. Nothing can be said at the moment.” The official, however, did not respond to whether any communication has happened with the company on the issue in the last two days.
The CBI on Tuesday raided the premises of the NHAI in connection with the alleged corruption in the tendering of the project, which was awarded to a Delhi-based construction company, Oriental Structural Engineering.
The two officials—a chief general manager and a general manager—apart from the managing director of the company have been remanded to police custody till May 31.
As per the CBI, it has also been alleged that the officers of NHAI in a bid to favour the accused company used to surreptitiously part with key confidential, strategic and vital information to the employees of the accused company during the process of tender and facilitated the calculation of annuity by applying financial parameters on the upper side to enable the accused company to fetch huge pecuniary benefits in the aforesaid award of the contract.
Cash worth Rs 46 lakh and documents of one flat in Gurgaon, one in Jaipur and one in Dwarka, New Delhi have been recovered from one officer. From the residential premises of another officer, located at Delhi and Jaipur, cash of Rs lakh, fixed deposits/NSCs worth Rs 39.5 lakh and documents of two flats and one plot of land in Jaipur have been recovered.
No comments:
Post a Comment