At least four players — Larsen & Toubro, IL&FS, Jaiprakash Ventures and Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) (in a joint venture with Turkey-based Dogus Constructions) — are likely to bid for the ₹10,000-crore Zojila tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir.

The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDC) has invited new bids for the project. Currently, the techno commercial bids are being evaluated and the financial bid is expected to be opened by the end of June. In April, NHIDC had held a site visit for the project, which was followed by a road show-cum-pre bid conference in Srinagar.

While a RInfra spokesperson confirmed that the company will participate in the tender, BusinessLine could not independently verify the plans of the three other companies. L&T refused to comment while e-mail requests sent to IL&FS and Jaiprakash Ventures did not receive any response.

Zojila tunnel is a complex project aimed at establishing year-round connectivity between Srinagar and the Leh-Ladakh region. Currently, Leh-Ladakh is cut off from the rest of India for almost six months due to heavy snowfall. The project site is located at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway, which makes it challenging for execution because of extreme temperatures (up to -45°C), winds, avalanches and low oxygen levels.

According to the tender documentation published by NHIDC, the contractor will have to build a 14.1-km-long, two-lane, bi-directional tunnel with a parallel escape tunnel including approaches on the Srinagar-Leh section, connecting NH-1 at km 95 and km 118 on an EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) basis. The project cost is estimated at ₹8,000-10,000 crore.

Fifth attempt This will be the Centre’s fifth attempt to complete the tender for the project, the model for which was revised from build-operate-transfer (annuity) to EPC.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, in its statement dated January 12, 2016, said that after the project report (DPR) for the Zojila tunnel was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in March 2013, with total project cost estimated at ₹9,090 crore on BOT (annuity) mode, four tenders were invited, out of which three were cancelled due to the participation of only one bidder. In the process, the tender procedure was changed from two-stage to single-stage.

In the fourth tender, closed in December 2015, IRB Infrastructure emerged as a single bidder and was eventually awarded the work. However, after Congress leader Digvijaya Singh alleged that tender guidelines were violated while awarding the contract, in 2016, the decision was reversed.

The Ministry cancelled the bid process and the work award to IRB Infrastructure, the company said in its BSE filing on March 1, 2016. IRB Infrastructure did not comment on the new tender.

comment COMMENT NOW