Within a day of the YSR Congress party government headed by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy took a decision at the state cabinet meeting terminating the contract of Navayuga Engineering-led consortium for construction of Machiliapatnam port, the company moved the state high court.
Filing a petition in the court, Navayuga director Y Ramesh said the company could not be faulted for the non-commencement of work at the Machilipatnam port, as the government had failed to hand over the land for the project. As such, the government order should be declared null and void, he argued.
He told the court that the Navayuga company had already spent Rs 436 crore on the project and so, the termination of the contract was against rules. The high court adjourned the case to September 12.
The Jagan cabinet took a decision seeking to take back 412.57 acres of land given on lease to the Navayuga consortium for the port.
It also decided to issue notices to the company to return the advances paid to it and then go for “reverse tendering” for Machilipatnam port project.
“No steps for taken by the consortium for the construction of project for the last 11 years, though the financial closure was extended several times,” the order said.
The project, which was proposed during the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy regime in 2008, was first entrusted to a consortium led by Maytas Infra, which was supposed to start the project within 12 months. However, following Satyam scam exposure, the consortium fizzled out.
Subsequently, Navayuga entered the scene in 2010 and had signed a fresh agreement with then Congress government. However, the project works did not commence due to non-allotment of land. The financial closure for the project was extended several times due to litigation over the land.
In 2016, the Naidu government began land acquisition through a notification and finally, he laid foundation stone for the project in February this year. But due to election notification, the project works came to a halt and now, the entire project has been terminated.
