The High Court in Hyderabad has stayed the Swiss Challenge model proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government to select developers for the construction of the greenfield capital city of Amaravati.

While admitting the petition filed by Aditya Constructions and NVN Engineers challenging the government’s decision to adopt the Swiss Challenge mode in selecting the project developers, the court posted the case to October 21, directing the state to file its counter.

A special purpose vehicle – Amaravati Development Company – has been floated by the state with a consortium of Singapore companies, Ascendas-Sunbridge and Sembcorp, as partners. Various projects in the new capital of Amaravati along the Krishna river banks are proposed to be developed by the consortium.

The state cabinet had approved the Swiss Challenge mode of development in June 2016. However, the Swiss Challenge mode is being viewed with different perspectives, with a section opposing the move on the grounds that it lacks transparency and helps favour a particular company.

Under the Swiss Challenge mode of public procurement, a government or its agency receives an unsolicited bid for a public project. Then third parties are invited to match or exceed the bid. Later, in some cases, a firm which came up with the unsolicited bid is asked to match or come up with a better bid that has come from the third parties.

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