DMRC, R-Infra lock horns over penalty

NEW DELHI: Weeks after DMRC head E Sreedharan expressed his "disappointment" with the services offered by the Airport Express Metro line, DMRC has now set up a committee to recover the penalty from Reliance-Infra for the delay in launch of the Metro line.
Said a DMRC official, "A part of the penalty amount that is owed to DMRC, as per the guidelines of the agreement, has been recovered.However, that is only for 64 days, amounting to Rs 34.875 crore. For the period from November 9, 2010, to the inauguration of the line on February 23, 2011, the number of days that will be calculated as part of the penalty period is yet to be decided ." The duration of the penalty period, however, seems to be the cause of dispute between the DMRC and the concessionaire . According to officials, while the DMRC has given a set period, the concessionaire has disputed the timeline. Said an official, "There are issues over whether the time period between the request to the CMRS for safety clearance and the actual day of inspection should be part of the penalty period. Also, handover of stations between the DMRC and the concessionaire has led to differences, which will also be addressed by the committee."
The three-member committee , in fact, has a tough task at hand. Officials of R-Infra admitted that there are serious differences over the duration of the penalty period. Said a spokesperson for the group, "DMRC had earlier imposed penalty on us and we disputed the same." Acknowledging that the "DMRC has also formed a committee to look into this issue ," the spokesperson added that negotiations between the concessionaire and DMRC were under way.
DMRC officials said, the amount calculated is at Rs 75 lakh a day. Said an official, "A damage of Rs 11.25 crore was imposed on DAMEPL as they failed to meet the inauguration deadline of August 31, 2010. This amount was calculated at the rate of 0.5 per cent of the performance security per day of delay up to October 15, 2010." Thereafter, the amount of damage for the delay has been calculated at 1 per cent of the performance security per day of delay, making it Rs 75 lakh per day.