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| Edited By: Ashutosh Kumar |Source: |Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 02:05 AM IST
The Union road transport and highways ministry plans to expedite the tendering for awarding 10,000 km of national highways in 2011-12 by streamlining the bidding procedures.
The ministry has introduced the request for annual qualification (RFAQ), thereby enabling companies to get shortlisted for a particular price bracket once in a year.
The bidding for national highway upgrade projects is a two-tier process. In the first round, request for qualification (RFQ), bidders are shortlisted on the basis of their technical capability to implement the projects.
Subsequently, the shortlisted bidders participate in the financial bidding round. The new norms essentially mean that those shortlisted in the annual technical qualification need not provide elaborate details at the time of project-specific bidding.
Annual qualification will be valid for projects involving two-laning, four-laning as well as six-laning of highways.
Explaining the move, a senior ministry official said, “While applying for annual qualification, the applicant is required to indicate the estimated project cost for which he wishes to get pre-qualified. The project cost will be indicated in a multiple of Rs 50 crore starting from Rs 200 crore, for example Rs 200 crore, or Rs 250 crore, or Rs 300 crore and so on. “
Experts believe the move is a step in the right direction to speed up awarding of the projects, even as they express a word of caution. “Overall, it is a good initiative by the government, as it will definitely reduce procedural delays and stem cost escalation. However, only the implementation will tell what further tightening is required,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, partner (infrastructure), Deloitte.
Meanwhile, the annual qualification is not a new practice initiated by the government. The national Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had the provision of annual qualification till 2005. But with the Planning Commission’s intervention that year, the clause was removed from the highway bidding procedure.
