Fighting to retain the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, Maytas Infra has proposed to the state government to bring in Reliance Infra as a partner for the project.

K Ramalingam, the government-nominated chairman of the board of the company confirmed the initiative. He said, “Yes, we are talking to Reliance and others for the metro rail project.” But he refused to give the details. Ved Jain, director on the board of Maytas, maintained though that he was not aware of any such development. “We are still pursuing with the Andhra Pradesh government to get some more time for achieving financial closure for the Metro Rail project,” he added.

However, none of the other consortia who bid for the project along with Maytas was now interested in the project as it is not seen viable, sources in Maytas said. Maytas officials had met officials of the ADA Group last week and proposed that it joined as a partner. “We are awaiting an answer from them,’’ an official said.

Ramalingam met Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S R Reddy and “proposed a re-grouping of the consortium for the Hyderabad metro project”. In the proposed structure, Reliance Infra could be given 84 per cent stake, while Maytas’ holding would come down to 16 per cent.

Last August, a Maytas-led consortium had bagged the Rs 12,132 crore project. With 26 per cent stake, Maytas’ consortium partners are the city-based Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd with 16 per cent stake, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (ILFS) and Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development Public Co Ltd, both having 5 per cent each. The state government has an 11 per cent stake. The project was supposed to be grounded within six months of the contract.

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