Stalemate over, Bihar loco factories plan back on track

The stalemate over the proposed loco factories in Bihar under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode is all set to end with the railways set to announce the names of the shortlisted firms in three weeks.

?We’ll be announcing the names of shortlisted companies in three weeks. There have been delays but the contracts for the projects would be awarded as per the deadline,? Railway Board chairman Arunendra Kumar told FE.

The projects are being monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office and the deadline set for the awarding of contracts is by the end of this fiscal.

The shortlisting for the electric loco factory in Madhepura and diesel locomotive factory in Marhowra has already been delayed by over a month.

The national transporter claims that the delay happened as it had to verify the claims of applicant companies with the countries where they have been operating. ?We had to check with around 34 countries where these companies have supplied locomotives and this process takes a lot of time,? Kumar said.

The criteria for qualification for the projects includes the condition that the companies applying should have supplied locomotives to at least three countries or more.

For Rs 1,300-crore Madhepura project, six companies – GE, Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier and two Chinese companies, CSR Corp and CNR Corp ? have applied.

For the Rs 1,200-crore Marhowra project, GE, EMD, CSR corp and CNR corp are in the fray.

CSR corp is automatically out of the fray as it doesn’t fulfill the three country operations criteria.

The Fresh Request For Qualifications (RFQs) for the projects was issued in May after a Cabinet nod. The two projects were announced in 2006 by then chief minister Lalu Prasad. These were to be set up in partnership with private players with the railways holding 26% stake in each. The tendering process for the same was initiated in August 2008 but was scrapped later after lukewarm response to the request for proposal (RFP).

Because of this, the rail ministry went back to the Cabinet, saying the PPP route didn’t materialise and asked for its permission to take the public undertaking route for the project for which the Cabinet gave its approval. This was just before the 2009 general elections.