The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has its ?Plan B? ready for two projects that were rendered without any bidders at the financial bidding stage. Those bidders who were next-in-line during the technical evaluation stage will be invited to participate in the financial bidding for the two projects, NHAI said. As shortlisted companies withdrew quoting a clause capping number of projects a company can participate in and implement.
The two projects are 121-km Vijaywada-Machilipatnam stretch worth around Rs 900 crore and 71-km Kundapur-Surathkal project worth around Rs 600 crore. ?In case of the two projects where all the bidders have withdrawn at the financial bidding stage, those next in line during the technical evaluation stage will be invited to participate in the financial bidding process,? said a top NHAI official. No fresh bids will be invited for either of the two project, he clarified.
As per the guidelines for PPP projects mentioned in the model concession agreement prepared by the Planning Commission last year, the process of awarding projects is divided in two stages. In the first phase bidders are shortlisted on the basis of technical experience and scoring is provided. The top five ? six scorers are then invited to submit the financial bids for the project. The Prime Minister’s Committee on Infrastructure approved the guidelines in December 2007.
While the Vijaywada-Machilipatnam stretch saw withdrawals by highways construction majors like Hindustan Construction Company, GMR Infrastructure, Madhucon Projects, among others, players like Reliance Infrastructure and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) withdrew from Kundapur-Surathkal project. All the six consortiums that were short listed to submit financial bids for both the project had withdrawn.
In case of Vijaywada-Machilipatnam stretch, the consortiums that are likely to benefit from NHAI plan to consider the applicants next in line as per the technical scoring are the ones led by gammon India, L&T and DLF among others.
The clause capping the number of projects a company, standalone or a part of a consortium, can participate in the process of bidding at eight and number of projects that can be awarded to a company for implementation at four was introduced by the ministry of road transport and highways in August this year. However, builders have challenged the clause and the Delhi High Court is yet to deliver its judgment over the issue.
This additional clause is applicable on 53 projects spanning 44 stretches under National Highways Development Programme, phase III and nine under phase V. The two projects are a part of LOT I of phase III consisting 23 projects. More than half of these projects have seen withdrawals owing to the clause. The technical evaluation of all the projects is over and financial bidding is also scheduled to be over by November end. However, the financial bidding in case of at least ten projects has been deferred by two weeks.
Speaking on the delays, the NHAI official said the submission of the bids have been delayed as the issue is still with the Court. ?We have deferred the submission of financial bids only by two weeks but we will be completing the process of inviting bids for all the projects by December this year,? he added.
