BJP leader moves magistrate court over Louis Berger’s association with monorail project
MUMBAI: The New Jersey-based Louis Berger International, which has admitted to bribing officials to secure government contracts in India, including in Goa, has a Mumbai connection: it is a consultant for many bigticket infrastructure projects in the city.
The group has been involved with key projects in various capacities for a decade, such as the Navi Mumbai airport, the Mumbai Metro 3, Metro 1, the monorail project and the SCLR. The cost of these projects is Rs46,970 crore. The firm’s total billing from projects in the state for this fiscal is to the tune of US 18 million dollars, informed its officials.
In May, the firm was part of a consortium roped in as general consultants for the Metro 3, estimated to cost Rs23,136 crore.
The Metro 3 has received a hefty loan from the Japan Inter national Co- operation Agency (JICA), similar to the controversial Goa water development project.
On the heels of the Goa controversy, the firm could land in trouble in Mumbai over the monorail project. BJP’s general secretary Vivekanand Gupta has moved the magistrate court, seeking a complaint against the firm and the MMRDA officials. The application is expected to be heard on July 24.
Gupta’s application is based on the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG) report 2014, which pointed to loopholes in the project, including the way LBG was selected as second consultant. RITES was the first consultant. The report had stated, “Hiring the second consultant after opening the bid price is an irregularity because the consultant was aware of the prices offered by the LTSE consortium (selected contractor) and his assessment of the project cost at that stage could have suffered from a confirmation bias.’’
LBG estimated the project cost at Rs2,329 crore, which was taken as benchmark for negotiating prices. This estimate was Rs552 crore more than what was estimated by RITES. The final price for the project was negotiated at Rs2,716 crore. The report pointed out other irregularities too.
“We have not received any summons that a case is registered against the company on the Monorail project,” said Regine De la Cruz from Louis Berger’s Corporate Communications.
MMRDA, in its reply to the CAG, had argued there was no benchmark for monorail costs, as this was the first such project in the country.
“We have had a long history with Louis Berger. They are seen as leading global consultants and so far, there have been no reports of irregularities or complaints against them. In our future deals, the recent reports against the firms may have to be weighed in,’’ said a senior MMRDA official.
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