GMR Group drives off Ahmedabad highway
The GMR Group has walked out of the 555-km long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway, 16 months after it won this in a bid in which it promised to pay the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) over R9,000 crore on a net present value (NPV) basis. The company issued a Notice of Intention to terminate the agreement to NHAI under clause 37.2 of the concession agreement last Friday.
An NHAI official confirmed getting the notice and said NHAI had been asking the environment ministry for clearances for a long time. Even the PMO has issued instructions on the matter. The GMR spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.
Sources said the GMR Group has said NHAI has not done what it had promised to do under the contract and so this was a “material default” on its part. Not only had NHAI failed to get the necessary environment clearance for one of the tunnels along the highway — under the contract, this was NHAI’s obligation — it had not even asked the GMR Group for more time to do this. “Therefore the Authority”, the GMR letter says, “has been in continuous default in complying with the provisions of the Agreement. The Authority has thus clearly repudiated the Agreement.”
NHAI has up to January 4 to reply to the notice, after which GMR is likely to issue a termination notice as per clause 37.2.2.
According to sources, while
