Haryana asks centre to take over incomplete Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway
HSIIDC is the executing agency of this 135 km four-lane high-speed corridor that aims to provide seamless connectivity from NH-1 to NH-8 and NH-2.
By Dipak K Dash, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Failing to find a solution to the stalled Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway, the Haryana government has approached road transport and highways ministry to take over the project. With barely eight days left for the state to submit its action plan to the Supreme Court to complete the expressway, top officials are rushing to Delhi on Friday to find a way out.
In its letter addressed to road transport secretary, Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has requested that the ministry "may take over the completion of KMP project by utilizing the services of NHAI or otherwise stepping into the shoes of HSIIDC for its earliest possible completion." The agency has referred to Haryana CM Manoharlal Khattar's meeting with road transport minister Nitin Gadkari in December when the latter had offered to take over the project, if the state was "unable" to complete it.
HSIIDC is the executing agency of this 135 km four-lane high-speed corridor that aims to provide seamless connectivity from NH-1 to NH-8 and NH-2. This is one of the two expressways being built as a ring bypass for Delhi to reduce heavy traffic movement through the national capital. The project is running behind schedule by over five years.
The earlier Haryana government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda had worked out a mutually agreed exit formula for the project concessionaire KMP Expressway Ltd fixing Rs 1,300 crore as payment for terminating the contract. But the decision could not be taken as the assembly election process kicked in.
"Now the state government wants us to approve the agreed amount. How can this be done? The state government has messed up the project. We can take over the project only when they give it to us without any liability," said a government source.
Meanwhile, a high-powered committee set up by Khattar government has rejected the termination amount fixed by the earlier government. It has recorded the total value of work as per the concession agreement could not be more than the total project cost of Rs 1,200 crore. It has also suggested that the actual volume of work done by the developer should be reassessed by a government entity so that exact termination amount can be worked out.
Earlier there were reports that the rough assessment of termination amount worked out by the new government was Rs 900 crore, something that is unacceptable to the developer and the lenders of this project.
In its letter addressed to road transport secretary, Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has requested that the ministry "may take over the completion of KMP project by utilizing the services of NHAI or otherwise stepping into the shoes of HSIIDC for its earliest possible completion." The agency has referred to Haryana CM Manoharlal Khattar's meeting with road transport minister Nitin Gadkari in December when the latter had offered to take over the project, if the state was "unable" to complete it.
HSIIDC is the executing agency of this 135 km four-lane high-speed corridor that aims to provide seamless connectivity from NH-1 to NH-8 and NH-2. This is one of the two expressways being built as a ring bypass for Delhi to reduce heavy traffic movement through the national capital. The project is running behind schedule by over five years.
The earlier Haryana government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda had worked out a mutually agreed exit formula for the project concessionaire KMP Expressway Ltd fixing Rs 1,300 crore as payment for terminating the contract. But the decision could not be taken as the assembly election process kicked in.
"Now the state government wants us to approve the agreed amount. How can this be done? The state government has messed up the project. We can take over the project only when they give it to us without any liability," said a government source.
Meanwhile, a high-powered committee set up by Khattar government has rejected the termination amount fixed by the earlier government. It has recorded the total value of work as per the concession agreement could not be more than the total project cost of Rs 1,200 crore. It has also suggested that the actual volume of work done by the developer should be reassessed by a government entity so that exact termination amount can be worked out.
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Earlier there were reports that the rough assessment of termination amount worked out by the new government was Rs 900 crore, something that is unacceptable to the developer and the lenders of this project.
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