DMRC-RInfra controversy shows potential glitches in framing PPP contracts

The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee has cleared 79 projects with a total project cost of Rs 227,268.1 crore from FY15 to FY23, noted the latest Economic Survey

The cost of arbitration over the Delhi Airport Metro Express holds salutary lessons for government bodies setting up public private partnership (PPP) projects as India pushes ahead with an over Rs 100-trillion infrastructure agenda. The critical learning is how to share the risks from these projects.

Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to fully pay, within March, the Rs 8,009.38 crore due to a Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) company arm that was running the Delhi Metro stretch to the airport up to 2013. DMRC, the court ruled, had lost the arbitration claim and