Who will repay loans for
Delhi airport Metro, Reliance or DMRC?
A consortium of banks led by Axis Bank and India Infrastructure Finance Company
(IIFC) has slapped legal notices on Delhi Airport Metro Express Line (DAMEL), a
private-public partnership between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and
Reliance-Infra, for non-payment of bank loans. The project has turned into a
non-performing asset. This comes as a double blow for DAMEL, which is already
engaged in a legal dispute between DMRC and Reliance-Infra.
DAMEL
carries a little over 10,000 commuters between Shivaji Stadium and Dwarka, and
halts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to help commuters avoid
traffic. But DAMEL now has nobody to take responsibility for its liabilities.
According
to DMRC, which is now operating the airport Metro line, the 54:46 partnership
between Reliance-Infra and DMRC failed to pay interest for the loans from the
consortium of banks since March 2013. Delhi Airport Metro Express Private
Limited (DAMEPL) borrowed Rs 1,800 crore from Axis Bank-led consortium and Rs
350 crore from UK-based IIFC after the company bagged the contract in 2009.
DMRC spokesperson issued a statement that liability to pay interest for the
loan rests with DAMEPL even though Reliance Infra has invoked the termination
clause to the agreement.
On
the other hand, Reliance-Infra issued a statement that its concessionaire
DAMEPL “has terminated the Concession Agreement through termination notice
dated October 8, 2012, owing to DMRC’s Event of Default.” It further
stated that DMRC has already taken over the entire project with effect from
July 1, this year with all existing contracts, employees from DAMEPL. Since
July 1, DMRC has been collecting all the revenues while the arbitration
proceedings are going on under Railway Board.
Earlier
this year, the Comptroller Auditor General of India had pointed out that
Reliance-Infra has diluted its stake in the concessionaire, a charge strongly
refuted by Reliance Infra (see ‘Profitable Exit’).
Since 2012, DAMEL operations came to standstill until January 2013 when
Reliance-Infra pointed out some serious structural defects in the Metro line
owing to which DAMEL trains had to slow down. While DMRC claims the faults were
repaired, Reliance-Infra wanted to back out of the project citing losses.
