There has been a massive pile-up of claims from the highway developers, that in some cases, are as high as around thirteen times the cost of the original project, which was evaluated earlier.
There has been a massive pile-up of claims from the highway developers, that in some cases, is as high as around thirteen times the cost of the original project, which was evaluated earlier.
The Claims
While seventeen of the total number of cases mentioned in a report that had been submitted by the Parliamentary committee of India had been reported as submitted, on Thursday. They have pending claims of Rs 62,193 crores.
The total claims of private developers have now reached Rs One lakh crore, as per the sources.
Even The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is the agency that is responsible for the construction of the highways, does not seem to be lagging any behind. It has filed counterclaims of around Rs 50,000 crores.
Also, the private players have raised claims, that are based on grounds of delay in the declaration of the date that was earlier appointed, delay in obtaining the environment clearance, prolongation of the project based on various other reasons, termination of the payment, and loss of toll revenue.
The delay in the commencement of toll operation, loss of productivity of the machinery that was being used for construction purposes, and the loss of revenue to the concessionaires envisaged the financial model that was to be made before accepting the project.
Government viewpoint
 In its defense, the government had been arguing about how the projects involving large claims, that are about the UPA days, when those construction projects were being bid out on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Dealing with the issue
To deal with disputes and the fast-track alternate resolution of such kinds of cases, the government has created two special arbitration mechanisms that have made some success in the past.
According to the sources, in recent past months, The National Highways Authority of India has been able to fast-track the one-time settlement of claims issued by the Conciliation Committees of Independent Experts.
The officials also stated that there have been several cases where private players have raised claims and were going for litigation as well.
