The Hindu : Front Page : ‘No haste to cancel Maytas projects’

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Monday, Jan 19, 2009
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‘No haste to cancel Maytas projects’

Cancellation of projects may entail penalties, says Rosaiah

– Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Anything else?: Finance Minister K. Rosaiah (right) with N.V.S. Reddy, MD, Hyderabad Metro Rail, at a briefing on the State government’s position after the Satyam fraud, in Hyderabad on Sunday.

HYDERABAD: The State government made it clear on Sunday that it was “not in any hurry to cancel projects awarded to Maytas Infra” in spite of the shadow cast on the company’s capability to mobilise funds after the Satyam fiasco.

The government “will wait and see” the developments and sees no need for an enquiry into charges of “favouritism” in awarding contracts to Maytas Infra. “The reports appearing in a section of media on the cancellation of works awarded to Maytas are borne out of imagination.”

Penalty threat

“The government’s duty is to wait and see rather than take hasty decisions, which are against the interests of the State,” Finance Minister K. Rosaiah told reporters.

According to him, cancellation of projects awarded to Maytas midway would “entail penalties” as the company “may sue the government for huge amounts.” Different departments were studying the developments and legal aspects were being looked into. “There is a method for cancellation and steps should be taken carefully,” he averred. He would not prefer to comment on the company as “any comment can be used against us.” The Minister, who claimed that he wanted to clear the apprehensions, if any, following the Opposition’s charges about the government’s role in the Satyam episode, said cancellation of works was likely to delay the projects and “might lead to escalation of costs” if fresh bids were invited.

Rebutting the Opposition charges, he said Maytas was awarded works worth Rs. 278.4 crore of the Rs. 2,285 crore projects allotted by the previous government amounting to 12.2 per cent. The government gave works worth Rs. 5,439 crore, “only 6.8 per cent” of the total projects estimated at Rs. 79,418 crore, after evaluating bids “in a most transparent manner”.

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