NHAI May Bar Contractors Of 20 Terminated Road Projects
NHAI said it has given three days to the companies for a response before taking a call.
The National Highway Authority of India today said it will consider debarring contractors of 20 road projects for which contracts were terminated in 2014-15. But not before causing some confusion.
The state-run road builder put up a notice on its website naming the companies and asking them to respond within three days. It later withdrew the notice.
“In the next week, we’ll examine each case for further debarment,” NHAI Chairman Deepak Kumar told BloombergQuint in an interview. The companies will still have to furnish their replies over the next three days and “based on their comments we will take a final call,” Kumar said.
He clarified that these contracts were terminated back in 2014-15 as the state-owned authority found “some faults” in those projects on the contractor’s end. “They can now be debarred from taking further tenders,” Kumar explained.
He declined to name any of the companies named in the list.
Ajit Gulabchand-led HCC Ltd., one of the companies named in the list, called NHAI's action "premature" as the termination of contracts is still being disputed legally. “The HCC BOT project concerned, namely Raiganj Dalkhola Highways Ltd, has been delayed for 6 years due to land acquisition delays on account of NHAI,” HCC said in an emailed media statement.
We feel that the action by NHAI is premature, especially considering since the alleged termination is undergoing an adjudication or conciliation process.HCC Statement
Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd. said its subsidiary L&T IDPL had terminated the contract agreement for the Pimpalgaon Nashik Gonde project due to unavoidable circumstances arising out of law and order issues, after completing the project. “In our opinion the termination cannot be treated as a concessionaire event of default,” it said in statement. “The matter is sub-judice as it is under arbitration/ conciliation,” the statement added.
Watch the full interview with the NHAI chairman here.