BRS Denies Corruption in Road Contract as BJP, Cong Slam KCR

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has denied all allegations of corruption in awarding the Outer Ring Road contract to Maharashtra-based IRB Infrastructure Developers.

Talking to News18, BRS spokesperson Putta Vishnuvardhan Reddy said the Opposition is trying to confuse people by producing cooked-up numbers.

Telangana has awarded the Nehru Outer Ring Road (ORR) under Toll, Operate and Transfer (TOT) model for 30 years to IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. for Rs 7,380 crore. This move has invited flak from both the Congress and the BJP.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Dubbak MLA M Raghunandan Rao alleged that the state will lose Rs 1.8 crore toll fee per day. The BJP leader alleged that the average toll fee collected on ORR through April this year was Rs 1.87 crore per day. However, according to the new contract, Telangana gave away toll rights for Rs 67 lakh per day. He warned that if the contract was not cancelled immediately, he would take up the matter with the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Before this, Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy too had raised similar allegations. He criticised K Chandrasekhar Rao and KTR for giving away the project worth crores at cheaper rates. Reddy was also stopped from meeting Special Chief Secretary Municipal Administration Arvind Kumar over the issue. He added that the ORR, which is estimated to grow 10 per cent per year, was given at a throwaway price.

However, the BRS has maintained that they have followed all due procedures. Refuting the allegations, the BRS spokesperson said: “The ORR is 158 kilometres. The construction began in 2006 and was completed in 2018 in a phased manner. The first stretch was opened in 2012 and the toll collection started under the Congress government.

“The Congress and BJP need to understand the TOT model. This model is approved by the NHAI and the cabinet committee on economic affairs. The NHAI has, till date, conducted TOT transactions for more than 1600 km in India. One of the biggest TOT project has been approved by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation. Last year on November 9, the Telangana government invited global bids for operation ORR for a period of 30 years. The submission deadline was March 31, 2023.”

He added: “All the rules set by the government of India were followed throughout the process. The Opposition’s allegations that the contract was directly handed over to IRB have no basis. They are just confusing people. Expression of Interest was sent by 11 prospective bidders. To invite more bidders and to make the process transparent, the deadline was extended thrice. The bidding period was 142 days. Two pre-bid meetings were also held. Four bids were found to be eligible, including that of IRB. They bagged it through the highest bid of 7,380 crore. IRB Infra is implementing projects in several other states too.”

Responding to the allegation that the lease was given at a cheap price, he said: “Mazars Advisory LLP, a France-based firm, was selected as the transaction advisor. This firm has been empanelled as an advisor by the Central department of economic affairs for all PPP projects. They have been the advisor for similar projects in Haryana, a BJP-ruled state. There is no ground for such allegations then.”

Reddy said the BJP was “intellectually bankrupt”. “They do not understand what concession period is. That is why they are throwing cooked-up numbers. Concession fee is a calculation based on the Net Present Value of future cash flows. The NPV is the difference between cash inflows and outflows over a period discounted to today’s value. All financial processes have been followed diligently. Since the Opposition is not able to convince people, they are confusing people.”

When asked to comment on BJP’s allegation that there is a link between KCR trying to woo voters in Maharashtra and awarding the contract to a firm from the same state, he said: “BJP is just jealous of the overwhelming response BRS has received from Maharashtra.” ​

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