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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024

HYDERABAD - Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday ordered the setting up of a special investigation team to probe the sale of toll-collection rights for the Hyderabad Outer Ring Road by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government. The chief minister told the state assembly that the tender process for the project was questionable and his government was committed to investigating the facts.

In 2023, when the Bharat Rashtra Samithi led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao was in power in Telangana, the government had invited bids to sell the toll-collection rights for the road for 30 years. IRB Infrastructure Developer Ltd. had emerged successful with a bid of INR 73.80 billion.

While IRB Infrastructure made the full payment and took control of the road, the tender process became embroiled in controversy as it happened just before the assembly elections in Telangana. The Congress, then in the Opposition, accused the government of flouting tender norms to favour the company. With the Congress winning the election, the new government led by Revanth Reddy has been saying it will investigate the manner in which the tender process took place.

Reddy said the scope and width of the probe will be discussed at the next state Cabinet meeting and guidelines issued to take the investigation forward. The tender was for collecting toll and carrying out operations and maintenance on the 158 km stretch for a revenue-linked concession period of 30 years. 

The road has 22 toll plazas, 22 interchanges, eight major bridges, 122 minor bridges, a flyover, four rail overbridges, 168 underpasses, and a number of culverts and causeways.

IRB Infrastructure reported a consolidated net profit of INR 998.69 million for the September quarter on a revenue of INR 15.86 billion. On Thursday, shares of the company closed at INR 56.38 on the National Stock Exchange, down 1.4%.  End

Reported by Narayana Krishna

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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