Swiss Challenge hearing to continue today

A two-judge bench of the High Court at Hyderabad comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice U Durga Prasad Rao on Thursday heard State Advocate General Dammulapati Srinivas inconclusively in the Swiss Challenge case.

The bench asked the Advocate General as to how many companies filed bids in response to the Swiss Challenge of the Singapore consortium.

It may be recalled that it is the case of the government that according to the condition of the Singapore consortium, details of its offer cannot be made public.

The government, however, told the single judge that it was willing to place the financial details only to such bidders, who are eligible to undertake a major task of building the new capital.

The Acting Chief Justice also wanted to know whether the non-disclosure would prevent other bidders from coming forward to compete in the Swiss Challenge.

It is the case of the government that it is not an ordinary real estate project. The sweep of the project was a green field project that was starting from the bare minimum and proceeding to provide not just roads and erecting building, but providing a state-of-the-art city a la Singapore.

Dealing even with the consortium, the court wanted to know its exposure in undertaking such works on foreign soil. Hearing will continue on Friday.