DMRC directed to pay ₹2,950 cr to RInfra unit
Delhi high court on Tuesday upheld a May 2017 arbitral award against Delhi Metro Rail Corp. Ltd (DMRC), directing it to pay ₹2,950 crore as compensation along with interest to Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Ltd (DAMEPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) for breach of provisions of a ‘Concession Agreement’ between the two entities for construction, operation and maintenance of the Airport Metro Express Line project. The project was a High Speed Metro Rail Line and intended to operate between New Delhi to Dwarka Sector 21 via IGI Airport Terminal 3, over a stretch of approximately 23 km.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, in its judgement, further directed DMRC to deposit ₹3502.62 crore being 75% of the amount awarded under the arbitral award directly with the project lenders. The amount would be deposited in the escrow account maintained with the project lenders within four weeks.
A Reliance Infra spokesperson said, “Now that the Hon’ble Delhi high court has upheld the award by the arbitration tribunal, we expect the compensation to be paid expeditiously, which we shall utilise to retire the outstanding debt of RInfra and DAMEPL.”
After winning the competitive bidding for the metro project in 2008, Reliance Energy CAF had formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) namely DAMEPL and had entered into a concession agreement with DMRC for the implementation of the project.
NEW DELHI: