In an attempt to expedite national highways projects, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), plans to invite bids for 23 projects worth around Rs 30,000 crore under the National Highways Development Programme phase III, by December this year.
NHDP phase III has a total of 44 projects, which have been divided into two lots for bidding. The authority will finalise bidders for the first lot comprising 21 projects worth around Rs 20,000 crore by November this year.
All these projects are a part of the 53 projects that the NHAI had put on block last month for bidding. The other nine projects to be bidded out are from phase V and are currently under evaluation.
Incidentally, two stretches under the first lot of phase III, namely the Rs 1,300 crore Ghaziabad-Aligarh project and Rs 700 crore Amritsar-Pathankot project, for which final bidding was due on 6 th and 13 th of this month, respectively have been delayed. ?Both the projects have been extended till November,? said an NHAI official.
In an another move, NHAI has increased the cost of bid document for financial bidding from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakhs for all the 23 projects in the second lot of phase III. The amount payable by the pre-qualified and short-listed bidders is non refundable, NHAI said in a letter to the bidders.
?In the first instance, the cost of bid document was too low. Also, it has been increased for the 23 projects in phase III to ensure that only the serious bidders participate in the financial bidding process,? said Gaje dra Haldea, advisor (infrastructure), Planning Commission.
However, highways builders feel that the move may force the companies to withdraw from projects. Also its getting challenged in the court is another possibility.
?The move will discourage the bidders. If suppose a company is bidding for four projects, it will have to deposit Rs 40 lakh, as compared with Rs 2,00,000. This will only increase the concession cost for the authority. Also, smaller players will not be able to participate in the financial bidding and the bigger ones will also think twice,? said M Murali, director general, National Highways Builders? Federation, a body representing the highways builders in the country.
However, the bid cost is not the only issue plaguing the bidding of the projects. The bidding for the projects has already been challenged in the Delhi high court over cap on number of bidders that can participate in the financial bidding of the projects and on number of projects a company can bid for.
Incidentally, the finance ministry has scrapped the cap of six bidders for financial bidding sans these 53 projects. Also, the ministry of road transport and highways, in August this year, imposed an additional condition that a company could not participate in the bidding for a particular project if the company, standalone or as a part of a consortium, during a period of two months preceding the bid due date, has been qualified in financial bidding for eight projects. A company cannot bid for a project even if it has been awarded four projects. However, this also applies only to the 53 projects and all the future projects are exempt from the regulation. The Delhi high court will decide the case on the October 21.