The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the foreign companies, implementing the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, to maintain the status quo over transferring the major shareholder鈥檚 shares to its co-contractor firms until arbitration in Singapore resolved the share transfer dispute.
An eight-judge bench headed by the chief justice Obaidul Hassan also adjourned the hearing on Thailand-based Italthai Development Public Company鈥檚 petition, seeking a stay on the transfer of its majority share to two Chinese contractors, co-contractors of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, until August 29.
On May 16, the Appellate Division asked the three contractors to maintain the status quo over share transfer until May 30.
The lawyer for the funding bank of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project Mustafizur Rahman Khan informed the Appellate Division that the project鈥檚 outstanding work would remain suspended until the Singapore arbitration resolved the share transfer dispute.
He noted that the two Chinese banks, funding the project, refused to disburse further loan instalments, unless the Thailand-based Italthai Development Public Company, the alleged defaulting implementing company, paid the loan interest.
The Thailand-based company owns 51 percent of the project shares, while China Shandong International Economic and Technical Co-operation Group and Sinohydro Corporation Limited own 34 per cent and 15 per cent of the shares respectively.
The two Chinese companies are demanding the transfer of the Thai company鈥檚 share to them, as the Thai company defaulted on paying loan interest to the two Chinese banks in 2024.
Italthai filed a case with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, challenging the Chinese companies鈥� demand for transferring its shares due to its failure to pay the bank interest as per the loan condition.
The three companies signed loan agreements with China Exim Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in March 2019.
The 46.73-kilometer expressway project connects Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway at Kutubkhali near Jatrabari.
