Maytas ties up funds to retain metro rail work

HYDERABAD: Cash-strapped Maytas Infra has inked an agreement with a Singapore-based consultancy firm to raise Rs 240 crore and thereby, retain the metro rail project.

In a petition to the AP High Court challenging the state government���s move to re-tender the metro rail project, Maytas Infra has said the firm, Concept 2 Commissioning Consultants, has agreed to invest Rs 240 crore that could be used as a performance guarantee.

This guarantee is one of the key pre-requisites for the firm to retain the project. Interestingly, the MoU with the Singapore-based firm was inked a day before the government terminated the contract.

But the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday ordered status quo on the state government���s move to terminate the Hyderabad metro rail contract with a consortium led by Maytas Infra, signalling a possible setback for the infrastructure firm. In an interim order, it also allowed the state government to invite fresh bids for the Rs 12,000-crore project, even as Maytas Infra challenged the termination of the contract.

While the state government can invite pre-qualification bids, the selection process may have to wait till a final order is passed by the court. The case is posted for hearing on August 11. Maytas Infra is run by Teja Raju, the son of B Ramalinga Raju, the defamed founder of Satyam. A consortium led by the firm bagged the contract to execute the metro rail project last year.

But the state government snapped ties with the Maytas-led consortium after it failed to achieve financial closure. The company, which is undergoing a debt-restructuring exercise, now claims that it has inked an MoU with the Singapore-based firm.