NHAI finds no takers for tender calls

While the National Highways Authority of India announces several successive projects to connect state capitals with the Golden Quadrilateral, many of its showcase projects are caught in a delay.

While the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) announces several successive projects to connect state capitals with the Golden Quadrilateral, many of its showcase projects are caught in a delay. The reason — tenders floated are not eliciting the right response. The project to connect New Delhi to Dehradun is languishing for nearly a year now.

The 220-km Meerut-Dehradun stretch, a two-lane road along NH 58 which was to be four laned under National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) Phase III, is stuck because NHAI received only a single bid for the tenders.

“Tenders were invited in 2006 but only one bid was received. The NHAI will now invite tenders again but that will take time as work on the details is going on, along with formulating a new model – concessionaire agreement. The process will be completed later in this year or early 2008. As there is no deadline, there is no hurry to get the project through,” said a senior official from the Ministry.

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The stretch was envisaged as a part of the larger plan of the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways to connect New Delhi with Dehradun and Nainital in Uttarakhand. The Ministry had announced the plans in 2005 as part of the NHDP III A projects. The Uttarakhand Government has also been pushing for the project hoping to add to its tourism potential.

Another project to hit a roadblock is four laning plan for the Jammu-Srinagar highway involving construction of the longest road tunnel from Banihal to Qazigand. The project aimed to make this economic lifeline of the state weather proof and usable through heavy snowfall days is set to get further delayed. “The lowest bid quoted a price which was 40 per cent higher than NHAI estimates. The NHAI is yet to decide whether it will go with this quote or call for re-tendering. J&K project involves construction in very difficult terrains, so it is not easy to get bidders,” the official said.

A 69-km stretch from Hardwar to Dehradun is also pending as tenders are yet to be invited. Work on the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar stretch has hit the slow lane for lack of environmental clearances.