JSW not to cancel Rs 100-cr order to Maytas

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is not planning to cancel the Rs 100-crore order given to Maytas Infrastructure, run by promoters of fraud-hit Satyam Computers, as it is "happy" with the progress made by the firm on construction of two township projects.

"We are happy with the work undertaken by Maytas. We are not looking to cancel the order unless the company defaults on the contract," JSW Group CFO Seshagiri Rao said.

About 35 per cent of the work has been completed in Vijayanagar, where JSW Steel is expanding the capacity of its unit to about 7 MTPA, he said and added that construction activity at the Ratnagiri site, where the group has a 1,200 Mw power project, has recently started.

JSW Group, which is predominantly interested in steel and the power sector, had given the Rs 53.60 crore order to build a township at Vijaynagar in Karnataka in September 2007, by way of competitive bidding to the infrastructure company promoted by the kin B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced former Satyam Chairman.

Maytas Infrastructure bagged another order worth Rs 42.91 crore to construct the township in Ratnagiri in August, 2008.

"We had also given the second order through competitive bidding to Maytas. They had past experience in setting up townships and we had reviewed its work on the Vijaynagar project also. They were technically qualified for our project," he added.

Moreover, the group downplayed the appointment of former senior executive of Satyam, Sailesh Shah, as the JSW Group President (Strategy), saying, he was "well" qualified for the post.