NHAI to invite fresh bids for Kaithlighat-Dhalli bypass

Project to miss revised Sept deadline; Decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Nitin Gadkari

BOX

Details of project

— The construction work of the Rs 1,480 crore Shimla bypass was awarded on August 8, 2016.

— Proposed date was April 2, 2018 and the Concessionaire terminated the contract on December 13, 2019.

— As per revised schedule all three stretches of Parwanoo- Dhalli four laning project are slated for completion by September 2020.

— When completed, the Shimla bypass would reduce the distance between Kaithlighat and Dhalli from 40.1 km to 27.45 km

— The project envisaged construction of nine major and four minor bridges, 22.23 km flexible pavements,89 culverts and 22.32 km retaining walls and 20.40 km breast walls.

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 29

The construction of Shimla bypass (Kaithlighat-Dhalli) four-laning project is set to miss the revised deadline of September 2020 as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to restructure the project and invite fresh bids under Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode after termination of contract by concessionaire.

The NHAI would restructure the 27.45-km Kaithlighat-Dhalli section of National Highway-5 with four lane carriageway and twin tube tunnel and fresh bids would be invited within three months under EPC mode after restructuring.

The decision was taken at a high level meeting under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to review the progress of Shimla bypass and Parwanoo-Solan four laning project, minutes of which are available with The Tribune.

The officials of the state government were also directed to provide encumbrance free land within three months by demolishing all structures, distributing compensation and removing all utilities, including felling of trees, while the concessionaire was advised to present the case before the Conciliation Committee for dispute resolution.

The minister took a serious view of the role of Regional Officer of the NHAI and observed that he did not act promptly in pre-construction activities, which was main cause behind termination of the contract and directed his repatriation to the parent department immediately. The officers responsible for indecisiveness in “Change of Scope” issue would also be examined.

Director of Shiv Valley Highways Projects (Concessionaire) blamed the authorities for delay and submitted that only 121 hectare of encumbrances free land was provided, out of 251 structures only 129 structures were demolished, 8,500 trees are yet to be felled by the forest department and utility shifting could not be taken up as supervision charges were deposited by the authority only on October 10, 2019. He also cited non-clarity in project as another reason for delay.

The representative of the Concessionaire also said that they were facing acute fund flow problem due to pendency of the decisions and one of the five Bank Consortium member had withdrawn while others have expressed serious concern.

The CARE rating (credit rating) of the company has been downgraded from A+ to A and expected to further reduce to A- which would have direct impact on fund raising capacity of promoter company, Chetak Enterprises.