L&T sees amicable solution over NHAI bid row

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which was among companies barred from bidding for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects a fortnight back, sees an amicable solution to the row.

Meanwhile, it will continue to bid for projects that come along.

Last month, NHAI had barred various companies executing 20 road projects from participating in their bids for the next two to three years by uploading notice on its website as the concessionaires had 'failed to fulfil the criteria and were unable to execute the projects awarded to them between 2015 and 2017". Among the companies in the list were L&T, Hindustan Construction Company, MBL Infra, JKM Infra, Supreme Infra and Madhucon Toll Highways. The highway regulator pulled down the list after the issue went into a spiral.

Asked about the issue, S N Subrahmanyan, chief executive officer & managing director, L&T, said, "We have no letters with us on that." L&T representatives have had a meeting with government officials explaining their stand. "We will continue to have meetings and find an amicable solution on the same," Subrahmanyan said.

The project in question is L&T's joint venture with Ashoka Concessions for a six-lane project in Pimpalgaon-Nashik-Gobde in Maharashtra. L&T was barred from bidding for NHAI's projects until March 28, 2018.

Elaborating on the issues with the road project, Subrahmanyan said, "The fact is there was a road job, which we had terminated because there was no Right of Way, clearances, etc. We held on to it for a long time, we tried to go ahead with it as we do for many of our other projects, we didn't go forward. Now this matter is pending with NHAI and we have taken them towards arbitration on this."

Secondly, L&T had also asked NHAI for conciliation. Hence, the project is "sub-judice".

"They should not have acted, but I don't know what has happened. In some manner NHAI has reacted out of turn on this particular matter, we have been clubbed along with others on a matter where conciliation is on and (a project) we have terminated that. So, it's a matter on our IDPL (Infrastructure Projects Development Ltd), our concession group and in a matter of 2-3 weeks you find the matter to be sorted out. The names on the website have also been removed as you can see. I think we will find an amicable solution," he said.

With a couple of weeks left for the final outcome of the matter, L&T feels that it is eligible to bid for the jobs and will continue to place its quote.

On Saturday, the company's results were announced wherein its infrastructure segment's growth slowed down. The order book as on September 30, 2017 increased by 2% year on year due to slower pace of new orders. Its revenue (infrastructure segment) registered rose 4% yoy to Rs 11,798 crore for the quarter.

"Delays in clearances, work front availability and right of way issues, aggravated by GST transition challenges with effect from July 2017 impacted execution progress during the quarter," its press release on Q2 results said.