IRB Infra: No rider of paying 10% upfront for ORR

HYDERABAD: IRB Infra, which was awarded the 30-year toll contract of the Outer Ring Road (ORR), clarified that there was no condition of paying 10 per cent of the total bid amount as an advance in the concession agreement.

In a rejoinder to a news item titled ‘ORR lease: IRB says it can’t pay 10 per cent advance of total bid’ published in these columns on Tuesday, the firm said as per the model concession agreement issued by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), the company is required to make an upfront payment to the authority within 120 days from the date of execution of the agreement.

The HGCL or authority has not asked the selected bidder to pay an initial 10 per cent amount within 30 days or written any letter to Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited in this regard.

In another press release, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) also dismissed the report about seeking deferment of payment of advance as factually incorrect. It urged the media to verify facts with HMDA before publishing allegations levelled by political leaders on the ORR toll contract.

We regret the error.