BS reported that the National Highways Authority of India has got an average of over 15 bidders for each of 35 new projects worth INR 39,000 crore under the various phases of the National Highways Development Program.
Among the bidders are L&T, HCC, Soma Isolet consortium and KMC. All these projects will have no cap on the number of companies who will be technically qualified for the final financial bid. Earlier under a scoring system, only 5 or 6 bidders could make a financial offer.
The road ahead
| Phase stretch | NH | km | amount |
| V Udaipur-Ahmedabad | NH-8 | 235 km | 1,750 |
| V Satara-Kagal | NH-4 | 133 km | 1,400 |
| V Tumkur-Chitradurga | NH-4 | 114 km | 839 |
| III Bareilly-Sitapur | NH-24 | 152 km | 1,046 |
| III Indore-Gujarat MP border | NH-59 | 155 km | 1,297 |
(In INR crore)
Senior NHAI official “Yes, 22 projects have cleared the RFQ stage and the response has been good.”
Another NHAI official said “We have received good response for these fresh projects. Many projects are on Build, Operate and Transfer (toll) and some on BOT (annuity).”
NHAI official said the projects put for bid under the annuity model are the 7 in the 270 kilometer Jammu to Srinagar road worth INR 9,500 crore. As the road projects in Jammu and Kashmir are not financially viable and also expensive because of the large number of tunnels to be built on this stretch, they have been taken under annuity.
Among the 35 projects, 6 are under Phase II, 22 are under Phase III and 7 are under Phase V of the NHDP.
Phase II constitutes the North-South corridor connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari including the Kochi to Salem spur and the East to West Corridor connecting Silchar to Porbandar, beside port connectivity and some other projects on the national highways.
Phase III aims at 4 laning of 12,109 kilometer of high density national highways. NHDP-V seeks 6 laning of the 4 lane highways comprising the Golden Quadrilateral and certain other high density stretches through PPP to be completed by 2012.
(Sourced from Business Standard)