The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) secured a favorable ruling in a recent arbitration dispute, rejecting the majority of the contractor's claims. Instead of the claimed 3177 crore rupees, the arbitral tribunal awarded only 46 crore rupees to settle the matter.
Project and Dispute Details
An official statement indicated that the dispute concerned the Bareilly-Sitapur BOT (toll road) expressway project spanning 151 km in Uttar Pradesh state. The conflict arose after NHAI terminated the concession agreement with Bareilly Highways Project Limited (BHPL) in May 2019.
The concessionaire presented approximately 30 claims, demanding compensation of around 3177 crore rupees before the three-member arbitral tribunal.
Tribunal's Decision
In its decision, the tribunal upheld only three claims amounting to about 46 crore rupees, including applicable interest, while dismissing the vast majority of the demands. Furthermore, the tribunal confirmed the validity of the 'addendum' signed on March 30, 2015, and ruled that the project delays were mutual, which weakened the concessionaire's position.
NHAI had also filed counterclaims regarding financial losses and public inconvenience caused by the project stoppage. Although these counterclaims were not accepted, the authority successfully defended itself against the bulk of the concessionaire's claims, significantly reducing potential financial risks.
Other NHAI Successes
This latest ruling is part of a series of successful arbitration decisions by NHAI this year. In June, the company received an award of 1202 crore rupees for the Tumkur-Chitradurga six-lane road expansion project in Karnataka. Previously, arbitration concerning the Panipat-Jalandhar highway project, where claims exceeded 8000 crore rupees, was settled in favor of NHAI for 819.96 crore rupees. In another case involving the Kamrej-Chaltan section of NH-48 in Gujarat, claims of 174.5 crore rupees were reduced to just 54 lakh rupees.
