Lowest bid of Rs 981 cr received for Ludhiana-Bathinda highway

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 22

One of the two parts to the six-lane Ludhiana-Bathinda national highway has received the lowest bid of Rs 981-crore, the government has confirmed.

A total of 13 construction companies have evinced interest to undertake the package-I of the project, running into 30.3 km on the southern end, the officials have said. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had invited tenders for its construction in January with a two-year deadline.

With this, the drive from Ludhiana to Bathinda will become smoother and faster as the project entails six-laning of 75.543-km-long national highway 754-AD at the cost of Rs 1,716.17 crore.

The part of Ludhiana-Ajmer economic corridor (EC-8) will be completed in 24 months under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase 1.The bidders included Ceigall India, Agroh Infrastructure Developers, CDS Infra Projects, Chetak Enterprises, GR Infraprojects, HG Infra Engineering, Krishna Constructions, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures, PNC Infratech, Prakash Asphalt and Toll Highways, Ram Kumar Contractor, Ravi Infrabuild Projects, and VRC Constructions (I).

“Following the technical evaluation of the bids received for both packages, the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders will be opened to allot the work to the lowest bidder,” said a senior NHAI officer.

Sharing details, the Deputy Commissioner, Varinder Kumar Sharma, told The Tribune, here on Thursday, that the acquisition of 525.19 hectares of land was almost complete and the few pending awards will be announced shortly.

He said the widening and strengthening of the highway was being undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in two parts under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode.

The first component of the NH-754-AD will comprise 30.3-km while the second part will run into a 45.243-km stretch.

While 13 bids were received for the package-1 on the project’s southern-end, 12 bidders have evinced interest to construct package 2 on the northern-end. While 201.67 hectares was acquired for the first stretch, the second leg will require 323.52 hectares of land spread across 36 villages in different parts of the district.

The civil cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 1,596.3 crore, including Rs 639.07 crore for first part and Rs 957.23 crore for the second component, while Rs 119.87 crore was earmarked for the land acquisition.

The 30.3-km-long first package of this six-lane access controlled greenfield highway will begin from junction with Amritsar-Bathinda NH-754-A near Tallewal village at Rampura Phul in Bathinda, while the second 45.243-km stretch from junction with Moga-Barnala NH-703 will connect with Delhi-Katra expressway (NE-5) at Ballowal village in Ludhiana.

The new Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway will pass through 36 villages in three districts of Ludhiana under Ludhiana and Rajkot tehsils, Barnala under Barnala and Tapa tehsils, and Rampura Phul tehsil in Bathinda. The DC said that the proposal for seeking approval to acquire 5.96 hectares of forest land falling under the project has been submitted to the DFO after conducting a joint verification and the same will be accorded by the PCCF. “The plan and profile of the project stands submitted,” he added.

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