Karnataka seeks to replace expressway promoters mid-way through project

The H D Kumaraswamy Government in Karnataka, which is at loggerheads with Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), promoters of the Rs 22.5 billion expressway corridor between Bangalore and Mysore, has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to hand over the infrastructure project to a new consortium of Indo-US companies.

According to information reaching here, the Karnataka Government has filed an additional affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking its nod to entrust the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project to a $ 250 billion Global Infrastructure Consortium (GIC), which has undertaken to not only complete the project in seven years time from the date of financial closure, but also construct a monorail along a 16 km-stretch of peripheral road at a cost of Rs 17 billion without any additional burden on the State.

The BMIC project, which began more than ten years ago, has been delayed on account of a series of litigations between NICE and the State Government. The Indo-US consortium has offered to take up the project on “as is where is basis” after paying for the existing infrastructure, whose cost could be assessed by an independent agency.

Apart from accepting the terms and conditions of the framework agreement between the Karnataka Government and NICE, the new consortium had agreed to return about 7,000 acres of excess land worth around Rs 300 billion, which the affidavit claims, NICE had illegally acquired to earn profit through real estate business.

The Karnataka Government has submitted to the Apex Court that it would be in the interest of the people of Karnataka if the new consortium is given the charge of the project, which envisages not only a 111-km-long state of the art expressway between Bangalore and Mysore, but also five townships en-route to reduce the congestion in Bangalore.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of NICE Ashok Kheny has reacted with strongly against the Karnataka Government’s move to oust his company from the project. Alleging that Indo-US consortium GIC was a “fictitious and phony” company, Kheny said he would be filing a complaint with the US State Department and Commerce Secretary seeking action under anti-corruption laws.

Referring to the presence of SKIL, a Mumbai-based infrastructure company in the Indo-US consortium, Kheny said the Government of Karnataka had connived with Nikhil Gandhi, who heads SKIL, to make an offer for BMIC. “He is the same person, who had bid for the Nandagudi Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the State Government had assured him of the SEZ only if they bid for the BMIC project”, he said.