Page 62 - January_2023

INFRASTRUCTURE Work on the railways’ ambitious bullet train project between management and operating capabilities, together with that
TICKER TAPE
MORE THAN 98 PC LAND ACQUIRED FOR BULLET TRAIN
PROJECT IN MAHARASHTRA: RAILWAY MINISTRY
of L&T IDPL, will help scale up this platform,” Sreekumar Chatra,
Managing Director, Infrastructure Yield Strategy said.
“Asset monetization and recycling capital holds the key to value
Mumbai and Ahmedabad has gained momentum, with the
ministry claiming that more than 98 per cent of the land has
creation and development in Infrastructure. We will continue to
provide solutions to construction companies and developers
been acquired for the project in Maharashtra. Piers have been
to recycle capital to fund their growth. On completion of this
erected for a distance of more than 118 kilometres, girders are
being launched and the work on the construction of bullet train
portfolio of 26 assets across 13 states, making us a leading
stations has also started, the railway ministry said. With the change
of government in Maharashtra, the pain points in the project in acquisition, there will be a high-quality diversified infrastructure
infrastructure investor in India,” Subahoo Chordia, Head -
terms of forest clearances and land acquisition seem to have Infrastructure Funds, Edelweiss Alternatives said.
been overcome.
In a series of tweets, the ministry claimed that while 98.22 per cent DELAYED HIGHWAY PROJECTS CAUSE MASSIVE PILE-UP
land has been acquired in Maharashtra, in Gujarat, 98.87 per cent OF CLAIMS, GOVT SAYS LARGE CASES ARE FROM UPA
land has been acquired and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 100 per DAYS
cent of the land has been acquired for the project. There is a massive pile up of claims from highway developers,
The physical progress till November 23 was 24.1 per cent, the which in some cases is as high as 13 times the original project cost.
ministry said, adding that while almost 30 per cent of the work While the 17 cases mentioned in a Parliamentary committee
has been completed in Gujarat, in Maharashtra, around 13 per report submitted on Thursday have pending claims of `62,193
cent has so far been achieved. crore, the total claims of private developers now top `1 lakh
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is of 508 km and crore, sources told TOI. Even NHAI, the agency responsible for
most of it is in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, the National High Speed construction of highways, does not seem to be lagging behind. It
Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the implementing agency of has filed counter-claims of nearly `50,000 crore..
the project, has to develop the Bandra-Kurla Complex and the The numbers come at a time when the government is seeking
network in Thane, Virar and Boisar. to reduce litigation and settle disputes in the highway sector as
Officials said almost all the civil work have been allotted in Gujarat, several road projects had been delayed due to disputes between
along with construction of piers (pillars) and all small and big developers and NHAI. In its defence, the government is arguing
bridges across rivers. The work of placing girders on the piers has that projects involving large claims pertain to the UPA days when
also started. those were bid out on public private partnership (PPP) mode.
The contract for the construction of a bullet train station at the According to the report, the private players have raised the claims
Bandra-Kurla Complex and the one for the construction of an on ground of delay in declaration of appointed date, delay in
underground tunnel have also been allotted. Pier and girder works obtaining environment clearance, prolongation of project due
will soon be visible in Maharashtra like in Gujarat, officials said. to various reasons, termination payment, loss of toll revenue,
In Gujarat, the construction of bullet train stations has started in delay in commencement of toll operation, loss of productivity of
Anand, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch, Vilimora, Vapi and Navsari machinery and loss of revenue to the concessionaires envisaged
districts. in the financial model before accepting the project.
For example, the concessionaire of Madurai-Tuticorin highway
EDELWEISS ACQUIRES L&T-CPPIB INFRASTRUCTURE widening project has raised a claim of `8,199 crore, while the
PROJECT FOR `6,000 CR project cost was barely `629 crore, citing multiple reasons.
India’s largest construction company Larsen & Toubro and Similarly, the concessionaire of four-laning of Mulbagal-Andhra
Canadian pension fund manager Canada Pension Plan Pradesh/Karnataka border has raised `2,133 crore claim against
Investment Board have agreed to transfer their 100% shareholding the original cost of `154 crore. Only in the Gurgaon-Jaipur project,
in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects and its subsidiaries the NHAI has raised a bigger counter claim of `14,952 crore
to Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors’s Infrastructure Yield Plus against the contractor, while the private player has made claims
Strategy fund for an enterprise value of `6,000 crore. of `4,287 crore.
L&T Infrastructure Development Projects is a joint venture between To deal with the disputes and fast-track the alternate resolution of
L&T and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board holding 51% and such cases, the government has created two special arbitration
49% stake respectively. L&T Infrastructure Development Projects mechanisms, which have made some success. Sources said
portfolio comprises eight roads and one power transmission asset in recent months, NHAI has been able to fast-track the one-
in India, spanning 4,900 lane-kms and 960 ckms respectively. time settlement of claims by the Conciliation Committees of
With this acquisition, Edelweiss Alternatives will have a diversified Independent Experts. Officials said there have been several
portfolio of 26 infrastructure assets comprising over 5,100 lane-kms cases where private players have raised claims and were going
of roads, 1,800 ckms of power transmission assets and ~813 MWp for litigations as well.
of renewables, Edelweiss Financial said in an exchange filing. Taking note of this, the Parliamentary panel has asked the highways
“These assets have a proven track record of operations, are ministry to apprise it of the steps being taken “to penalise road
geographically dispersed and have long residual life, which is contractors, who habitually take projects to litigation without solid
consistent with our investment strategy. We believe our asset basis”, causing undue delays in completion of road projects.

62 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|JANUARY 2023