Fomento serves termination notice; seeks Rs 12.81 crore

Will continue to possess Sonsodo site till MMC clears payment

The Goan Network | JUNE 12, 2019, 02:54 AM IST

HIGHLIGHTS
>> MMC called upon to pay an amount of Rs 12.81 crore being the termination payment within 60 days of the notice.
>> Concession agreement will stand terminated after expiry of 60 days from the date of receipt of the notice
>> Fomento reserves all rights to enumerate substantial other claims against MMC and recover them in appropriate time
MARGAO: In an interesting development, Fomento has served a termination notice on the Margao Municipal Council, while calling upon the civic body to pay an amount of Rs 12.81 crore being the termination payment within 60 days.
The company has also made it clear to the civic body that it will continue possession of the Sonsodo site along with the plant and equipment till the municipality clears the termination payment as stipulated in the concession agreement between the two parties.
While asserting that the concession agreement with the Margao Municipal Council will stand terminated after expiry of 60 days from the date of receipt of the notice, Fomento has further told the civic body that it will not accept any supply of mixed waste at the waste treatment as contemplated under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The termination notice served on the Margao Municipal Council states that besides the termination payment, Fomento reserves all rights to enumerate substantial other claims against the MMC and recover them in appropriate time.
Calling upon the MMC to pay the termination payment amounting to Rs 12,81,55,137 within 60 days of receipt of the notice and as a pre-condition to handing over the site along with plant and equipment to the MMC, the notice stated that if the civic body fails and/or neglects to pay the termination payment within the stipulated time, it will be liable to pay interest thereon at the rate of 12 per cent per annum after expiry of the 60-day period.
Fomento further made it amply clear that till such payment (along with interest, if any), it shall continue be in possession of the site along with the plant and equipment as stipulated in Articles 10.2.4 (ii) and 10.2.4(iii) of the agreement.
Saying that it is unable to accept unsegregated waste, excluded waste and non-compostable waste at the plant, Fometo made said that unless the plant is supplied with properly segregated waste as contemplated in the concession agreement and under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, it will be constrained not to accept any supply of mixed waste.
“MMC is continuing to supply unsegregated waste as also excluded waste, including untreated medical waste, dead animal remains (bones/chicken and meat waste etc) and non-compostable waste. Very often this is supplied in a compressed (in compactor) form and often deeply buried in the vehicle or concealed in plastic bags, which is near impossible to detect and sort out. Such supply, besides being contrary to the terms of the concession agreement, is also contrary to the mandatory Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016,” the notice stated.
Fomento had in January last served a preliminary notice of termination of the concession agreement that it had entered into with the Margao Municipal Council dated February 1, 2011, by citing a host of defaults, including the default to make the payments due to the company for more than 30 days; repudiation of the concession agreement by the MMC and that the civic body has been persisting in bringing excluded waste to the project, besides failing to cart away such waste.
Fomento also made a mention of the MMC’s failure to pay the dues of the Chairman of the Disputes Redressal Forum, Pramod Kamat (retd district judge), which led to his resignation and the failure to appoint a nominee in place of Eng Ernest Moniz on the DRC. “The MMC has only manifested that it has no intention to amicably settle the issues raised in the preliminary notice. The MMC has thus deliberately frustrated the amicable resolution route provided in Article 14.1(iii). Thus, the amicable resolution contemplated in Article 14.1(iii) has failed,” the termination notice stated, adding, “In the circumstances, we have no option but to notify termination of the concession agreement and hereby do so in anguish.”   

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