Satyam fiasco could cost Maytas the Hyderabad metro project

14 January 2009

Hyderabad: In the wake of the Satyam fraud fiasco, the Andhra Pradesh government is believed to be looking at alternatives for its ambitious metro rail project for Hyderabad, which had earlier been allotted to a Maytas Infra led consortium.

Reports said that state government officials have started contacting other bidders who had competed with Maytas for the project earlier, in order to estimate their level of interest in managing the project.

However, unlike last time where the government had been lured into allotting the project to Maytas on the promise of being paid a hefty fee, this time around the government could end up paying the firm to develop the metro rail.

Reports quoted unnamed industry sources as saying that no prospective infrastructure firm would pay the government to develop the metro rail project, and that the terms and conditions would now be determined by the firm that bags the deal.

The lender involved in the project would also have a greater say in the deal, reports said, while pointing out that the AP government could ill-afford to support Maytas with general elections round the corner and the prospect of the deal being scrutinised after possible revelations in the Satyam scam.

Reports in the media a few months ago had quoted Delhi metro chief E Sreedharan as terming the Hyderabad metro as a political scam.