Global firms can bid for Zojila tunnel

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 30

The government is seeking participation from global companies in bidding for the construction of the Zojila tunnel, which will establish all-weather connectivity from Srinagar to Leh on the National Highway-1.

With a tunnel length spanning 14 km and costing of Rs 9,090 crore, it will be the biggest national highway project awarded in terms of project cost. The project includes building 14.083-km-long single tube bi-directional tunnel with parallel egress tunnel. Considering the toughness of the terrain, the construction period for the project is seven years.

This is the fifth attempt by the Central government to attract more than one bidder to avoid any controversy. According to the information available, each time the Road Transport Ministry floated the tender ever since 2013, only one bidder bid for the project. On the fourth occasion, the NDA government awarded the contract to the single bidder, namely IRB Infrastructure, in January this year, adhering to the statutory guidelines. However, it was marred by a controversy when Congress leader Digvijaya Singh levelled allegation of selecting the single bidder. To avoid any further controversy, the ministry cancelled the bid and rebid the project.

Now, the ministry has entrusted the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), a fully owned company of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, with the task of undertaking the tendering process.

“This time we are expecting more bidders. To attract more bidders, we have tried to reach out to more companies by doing road shows in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai,” sources in the NHIDCL said.

Situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway, the Zojila pass remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall and avalanches, cutting the Leh-Ladakh region from Kashmir.

The construction will include approaches on the NH-1 (Srinagar-Sonmarg-Gumri road) in Jammu and Kashmir on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer (annuity) basis.

To be executed on DBFOT basis, the concession period for the project is 22 years, including seven-year construction period.

The project has a strategic and socio-economic importance as it will provide much-needed all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir and Leh-Ladakh, which remains cut off during winter due to heavy snowfall.

The project is part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir, which he had announced in November last year.

Box

One bidder problem

This is the fifth attempt by the Central government to attract more than one bidder to avoid any controversy. Each time the Road Transport Ministry floated the tender ever since 2013, only one company bid for the project.

On the fourth occasion, the NDA government awarded the contract to the single bidder, namely IRB Infrastructure, in January this year, adhering to the statutory guidelines. However, it was marred by a controversy when Congress leader Digvijaya Singh levelled allegation of selecting the single bidder. To avoid any further controversy, the ministry cancelled the bid and rebid the project.

Now, the ministry has entrusted the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), a fully owned company of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, with the task of undertaking the tendering process.