HYDERABAD: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy on Thursday asked why minister K.T. Rama Rao was not responding to his allegations of a massive scam in the Outer Ring Road (ORR) tenders, a day after Arvind Kumar, special chief secretary of the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD), had rebutted Opposition charges on the matter.
The government does not leave any stone unturned when it comes to claiming credit for any investment that comes to the state, Revanth Reddy said.
“What is the compulsion to give a contract for 30 years to the IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited for '7,380 crore? Banks would be willing to give at least '15,000 crore, which is 70 per cent of the toll charges that the ORR would gather at '730 crores per year. If the increase in traffic over the years is taken into account, the income would only rise,” the TPCC chief said.
“What is the hurry for this government to rush into this deal when all they have is another three months before the state gets into poll mode? I am alleging the deal has been done to benefit Rama Rao to the tune of at least '100 crore per year. Shell companies have been floated to benefit the family. The HGCL (Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited) which was floated as a special purpose vehicle to develop ORR was merged into HMDA (Hyderabad Metro Development Authority) to close this deal,” he alleged.
Responding to queries from the media that the decision to give the ORR deal was taken by the Cabinet, he said, “The Cabinet only gave approval to the policy decision to adopt the TOT (Toll, Operate, Transfer) model. The Cabinet members are puppets of the Chief Minister. The bidding was called without setting a base price. It’s normal to give tenders to the lowest bidder and property sold to the highest bidder, for which a minimum rate or base price is decided.”
“The discretion to give entry and exit points to the real estate ventures on the ORR itself would fetch hundreds of crores to IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited,” he said.
Delving into the antecedents of Mazars Advisory LLP, the transaction adviser to the state government, Revanth Reddy alleged that the company was under probe for having overvalued the assets of former US President Donald Trump, who had taken loans based on their valuations.
“The deal is problematic and contrary to the advice of the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) to restrict any lease period of TOT packages to 20 years. As the master plan of the HMDA ends in 2031, the deal to make it a 30-year one is violative of this provision. Given this track record, why was BRS making an issue of the sale of VSP,” he said.
He said that the government wuld have to respond to his complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission, department of personnel and training and the Comptroller and Auditor General. “We will take the government to court and make them answerable and fix responsibility,” he said.
