NHAI likely to miss bidding date for Rs 65k-cr highway projects

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New Delhi, Oct 30: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to miss the target of awarding 60 build-operate and transfer (BoT) projects worth Rs 65,000 crore by December this year.

NHAI on Thursday extended the financial bidding for two stretches under National Highways Development Programme, phase-III. Both the projects were scheduled to be awarded on Thursday.

“The financial bidding for Pimpalgaon-Nashik-Gonde section on NH 3 and MP-Maharashtra-Border Dhule projects have been extended to November,” said an NHAI official. The bidding will now take place on November 14.

NHAI also extended two more stretches for which financial bidding was scheduled earlier this month. The financial bidding for the two projects namely Ghaziabad-Aligarh and Amritsar-Pathankot has been extended to November. All the four projects are a part of the 44 projects, which the authority plans to award by the end of this year. All these projects are a part of NHDP, phase-III.

However, sources close to the development said there are no takers for various projects up for grabs owing to the clause capping the number of projects a company can bid for at eight and number of projects a company can be awarded at four.

“Also, earlier participants could achieve the financial closure of the project at interest rate of 10% compared with 15% now. But the real issue plaguing the awarding of the projects is the clause capping the number of bidders,” said an official of a highway construction company.

NHAI has completed the evaluation of 27 out of 44 projects. These 27 projects are to be awarded by November this year. However, in the light of the withdrawals, it seems to be a distant possibility. Eighteen of the 27 projects have seen withdrawals.

Of the eight bidders short listed for financial bidding for the Ghaziabad-Aligarh stretch, four withdrew from the project. Construction majors like Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Construction company have withdrawn from the project. Similarly, in case of the Amritsar-Pathankot stretch, six out of ten short listed bidders withdrew from the project.

Also, for certain stretches like Vijawada-Machilipatnam, Mangalore Karnataka/Kerala border and Kuttipuram Edapally, have no takers as all the shortlisted bidders for financial bidding have withdrawn.