STAVROPOL, April 29 (RAPSI) - The Stavropol Territorial Commercial Court will consider on May 22 a 355 million ruble ($11.4 million) lawsuit filed by the region's construction and architecture ministry against a Moscow company, the judge said at a court hearing on Monday.

The dispute concerns a government contract to build a railway, which the construction company allegedly violated.

According to the plaintiff, the Main Construction Investment Company signed a 572 million ruble ($18.3 million) contract to build and open a railway by Dec. 15, 2012.
The company spent some 300 million rubles ($9.6 million), while only performing 40% of the work, the ministry claimed. Furthermore, the company ignored the claims of the customer, which therefore decided to take the issue to court.

"We seek damages in the amount of 270 million rubles, which is roughly the sum that the contractor failed to spend on the construction - with the refinance rate stipulated by the contract - for violations of the state contract's terms and the failure to fulfill contract obligations," the lawyer representing the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the contractor's lawyer rejected the claim, stating that the company failed to fulfill its contract obligations because the ministry failed to supply the required technical specifications on time.

The defense lawyer refused to comment on the case in a conversation with RIA Novosti.