‘NICE not to allow take over of BMIC project by Government’

‘NICE not to allow take over of BMIC project by Government’
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Nandi infrastructure corridor enterprises (NICE) Managing director Ashok Kheny on Friday gave an indication that he would not allow the state government to go ahead with its move to take over the ongoing Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP).

Replying to queries from scribes at a media conference addressed by him after a stretch of a peripheral road under the BMIC project was thrown open to public, Ashok Kheny, in an obvious reference to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's moves to bring in a legislation to take over the project, said "such issues cannot be left to the whims and fancies of an individual" and he said every citizen's right is protected under the Indian constitution.

About the allegation that NICE had acquired excess land for the project, Kheny said the supreme court verdict had dealt with this issue too and observed that there was nothing as such.

Asked whether he was ready for a legal battle with the government on this issue, he said “I am sitting here for protecting my rights for the last eleven years.” The issue of this “magic” excess land figured only after December 2003, he pointed out.

Of the total requirement of 20,193 acres for the project, it had acquired 6,700 acres. The NICE company had so far invested around Rs 800 crore out of Rs 2,250 crore needed for the land acquisition and road component.

Hoping that there would not be any more impediments in the implementation of the project, he said he was ready to cooperate with the government and resolve the tangle. “We have requested already and we will be too happy to meet him (Kumaraswamy) as such discussions will always lead to transparency,” he stated.

About the charge that he had engaged in real estate business through the project, Kheny said this issue was also eloquently mentioned in the supreme court verdict. Terming the charge as “unfair,” he said while several real estate developers from other states have sold thousands of acres of land in and around the city for several hundred crores of rupees, "I have never sold even an inch of the land meant for the project. With this one can draw the conclusion that I am a worst real estate developer." he added.

Meanwhile, Kheny said the government was giving a "confusing picture" as, on the one hand, it had asked them not to go ahead but, on the other, written to the company assuring it of providing the required land in accordance with the supreme court directive. He said the project would be completed by December 2007 if the land was provided to NICE.