Betting on BoT
Worsening NHAI finances are forcing the government to go back to the build-operate-transfer model for road projects
Photograph by Shekhar Gosh
On February 10, the National Highways Authority of India s (NHAI s) project team eagerly awaited opening of bids for two projects - six-laning of the 67.75-kilometre Panagarh-Palsit and 63.8-kilometre Palsit-Dankuni stretches - in West Bengal. The excitement vanished soon after, because instead of bids, all they got were bid-related queries from developers. NHAI extended the bid submission deadline by two weeks. The story was no different and the deadline was postponed yet again.
However, when bids were opened yet again in early March, it was a jackpot for both NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH). Not only were there bids, private highway developers did not demand viability gap funding (VGF is a capital grant given by the government to a developer to bridge the viability gap in a highway project). I
Northlines
Jammu Tawi, Apr 07: The Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Schedule Castes (SCs) and Schedule Tribes (STs) is set to visit Jammu Kashmir on April 14.
Headed by BJP’s MP from Gujarat, Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, the panel will undertake a study tour next week to look into the matters concerning SCs and STs, sources said
Ahead of the visit, Jammu & Kashmir government has designated director Social Welfare Kashmir as nodal officer to coordinate between divisional administration and other agencies for making necessary arrangements for the study tour of MPs.
The panel undertakes tours to study the problems of the scheduled castes and scheduled Tribes and the measures taken or being taken for their welfare and prepares reports which are tabled in the Parliament.
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Everything media mogul Iqbal Survé touches is anathema to one of South Africa’s Big Four banks – the same bank that led the charge in cutting off the Gupta family from the banking system in 2016.
amaBhungane has established that on 27 August 2020 Absa sent letters to every client directly or indirectly controlled by Survé’s Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, giving 60 days’ notice of termination of services.
In subsequent court proceedings late last year, Absa general counsel Marthinus Janse van Rensburg insisted that “[Absa’s] continued association with customers in the Sekunjalo Group posed intolerable reputational, commercial and legal risks.”
The companies cut off from their banking facilities include Survé’s main JSE-listed vehicle, African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), its separately listed subsidiaries AYO Technology Solutions and Premier Fishing & Brands, and all subsidiaries of the three companies. Sekunjalo-controlled Independent Media appears una
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