Cancel excess HAM road tenders: Harish

Hyderabad: BRS deputy floor leader T Harish Rao on Friday demanded the immediate cancellation of excess tenders awarded under Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) road works, alleging large-scale corruption and a significant financial burden on the state exchequer.Speaking to the media at Telangana Bhavan, Harish said the BRS had already exposed during the assembly budget sessions, with evidence, that the govt was planning to award select road contracts in the roads and buildings (R&B) and panchayati raj departments through inflated tenders. He said those allegations had now been proven correct, as HAM-model road tenders were finalised with an excess of up to 25%.Harish alleged that in the R&B department, tenders originally valued at 11,000 crore had escalated to nearly 15,000 crore due to excess bidding. In the panchayati raj department, he said, tenders estimated at 6,000 crore had risen to around 7,000 crore to 8,000 crore. Altogether, he claimed, the excess tenders would impose an additional burden of nearly 5,000 crore on the govt.He said the HAM model would further deepen the financial burden, as the govt was prepared to borrow 60% of the project cost from banks and repay it with interest over 15 years in 30 instalments. Harish said that in 2014, the then BRS govt had scrapped the mobilisation advance policy. He added that under the previous BRS administration, any HAM tender exceeding 5% would be immediately recalled, whereas the present govt was allowing 25% excess tenders without hesitation.