The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are contemplating action against GMR Group for its ‘abrupt and unilateral’ walkout of the 555-km-long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway project. Alleging delays in approvals GMR has come out of the road project.
The Centre is weighing various options, including initiating procedures to debar the firm from upcoming road projects for a few years.
Although a final decision is likely only at the NHAI board meeting expected in a few days, sources told a business newspaper that preventing the company from bidding for new projects for a few years is under consideration, as the stay obtained by GMR Infrastructure from the Delhi High Court on forfeiture of Rs 270 crore performance guarantee left the authority with few other options of punitive action.
Road minister CP Joshi is understood to have asked the authority to consider possible punitive options, including debarring. The procedure starts with the issuance of a showcause notice to the party, in this case GMR. The prohibition will come only if the authority is not satisfied with the companyÂ’s reply to the notice.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.