IL&FS has lodged a writ petition with the Ranchi High Court, urging the Jharkhand government to release Rs 7.75 billion in pending annuities and interest. This plea stems from an agreement between IL&FS and the state government for the Jharkhand Accelerated Road Development Project, a joint venture aimed at developing five roads. Despite the agreement, IL&FS claims that the state government has failed to disburse the annuity of Rs 7.75 billion, including interest, owed to the company on a semi-annual basis, as stated in the petition.
The concession agreements, signed between 2009 and 2011, focused on the construction and maintenance of road projects across Jharkhand, covering a total of 1,500 km under a public-private partnership on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The agreements encompassed various projects, such as the Ranchi Ring Road, Ranchi Patratu Dam Road, Patratu Dam-Ramgarh Road, Chaibasa-Kandra Chowk Road, and Adityapur-Kandra Road.
The construction period, initiated upon agreement signing, involved activities like securing financing, subcontractor engagement, and construction preparation. Following construction completion, an operational period of 15 years commenced, during which IL&FS was tasked with road operation and maintenance. Financing for construction primarily relied on debt funding from creditors and equity from promoters.
According to IL&FS's petition, semi-annual annuities, fixed sums payable twice a year during the operational period, amounted to Rs 580 million for the first project, Rs 250 million for the second, and Rs 310 million for the third. IL&FS maintains that there were no delays beyond the extended scheduled completion dates, thus refuting any grounds for annuity reductions. An independent consultant also affirmed that no reductions were recommended for the outstanding annuities being withheld by the government, as stated in the petition. (ET Infra)
