The cost of the Musi River Beautification Project has surged drastically in just two and a half months. Initially, the project’s cost was announced to be much lower, but the recent spike has raised eyebrows, especially in the absence of a detailed project report. Questions have arisen regarding the reason behind this sudden hike in the project’s cost, with many pointing fingers at the involvement of the Meinhardt Group.
Meinhardt, a company allegedly linked to corruption, is at the center of these speculations. The firm, owned by Singapore former minister S Iswaran, has been embroiled in controversy for its role in the Amaravati Capital City project in Andhra Pradesh.
Allegations of corruption amounting to Rs. 66,000 crore have surfaced against Iswaran’s company during the Amaravati development. Now, with the same company entering the Musi project, doubts are growing about the transparency and financial integrity of the project.
On October 4, the Telangana government formally entrusted the responsibility of designing the Musi beautification master plan to the Meinhardt Group, a Singapore-based consortium. However, the group had already met with CM Revanth Reddy in the state secretariat back in February, months before the official order. During this meeting, company representatives presented their past work on various riverfront developments and discussed potential proposals for the Musi project.
The estimated cost of the project was initially pegged at Rs. 50,000 crore by Revanth Reddy during a speech in March. However, in May, Meinhardt submitted their proposals to the government, and since then, the estimated cost has soared. By June 14, Minister Jupally Krishna Rao announced the figure had reached Rs. 71,000 crore. By July 4, at the Gopanpally flyover inauguration, the projected cost had ballooned to Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. The rapid rise in estimated costs has been linked to the proposals submitted by Meinhardt, even before a Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared.
Iswaran, a former Singaporean minister and key investor in Meinhardt, is currently embroiled in corruption cases. His involvement in the controversial Amaravati Capital project under the Chandrababu Naidu government has sparked fears of similar issues with the Musi project.
In Amaravati, Iswaran’s consortium was given control of the startup area development under the Swiss Challenge system, where it was reported that despite the Andhra Pradesh government investing Rs. 5,500 crore, Iswaran’s consortium retained 58% of the land, leaving the government with only 42%. Such allegations of disproportionate benefits and mismanagement of funds have raised alarms in Hyderabad about the possibility of similar malpractice with the Musi project.
The connection between Iswaran’s track record and the sudden escalation in the Musi project’s estimated cost is being scrutinized, with many questioning whether the project’s true aim is urban development or misappropriation of public money.