Kheny calls consortium fake

Kheny calls consortium fake
Sunday July 29 2007 11:38 IST

BANGALORE: NICE managing director Ashok Kheny on Saturday said the USbased consortium which offered to implement the BMIC project was ‘‘fake and no such company existed in the US’’.

Reacting to an additional affidavit filed by the State government before the Supreme Court on Friday, Kheny alleged that it was an effort by the Government to mislead the Court. ‘‘I checked with my contacts in the US. No such company exists. The consortium’s Mumbai office is situated in a chartered accountant’s office,’’ he said.

Kheny said he had ample evidence to prove that the consortium was fake and alleged that some persons were made the members of the consortium without their knowledge. ‘‘I have spoken to them also,’’ he claimed.

Kheny also claimed that chairman of SKIL, the promoter of Nandagudi SEZ Nikhil Gandhi was a member of the consortium. ‘‘Anybody can guess the intentions of the government by this,’’ he said. On the new consortium’s proposal to construct a Rs 1,700 crore monorail, Kheny said he had offered the government to build Rs 8,000 crore monorail at no cost to the State, if he was allowed to complete the BMIC project. But the government did not respond to the proposal, he added.

On delay on executing the project, he blamed the government for not giving the required land. ‘‘I would finish the entire project in two years, if they give me land,’’ he claimed.

‘‘Why wait for eight years for the new consortium to complete the project? I will finish it in two years,’’ he said. With regard to ‘Swiss Challenge Approach,’ Kheny said the approach cannot be applicable to on-going projects. It was for only new projects. ‘‘If government takes over my project under the Swiss Challenge Approach, I would also move similar proposal with regard to Devanahalli International Airport. Will the government give me the project?’’ he asked.