Jammu Tawi, Aug 21
The Centre has shortlisted three firms for the construction of the long-pending strategic project of the construction of Zojila Tunnel in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, out of which Hyderabad-based infrastructure from Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) has emerged as the lowest bidder for the tender and is likely to be awarded the contract, according to officials aware of the development.
The government's nodal agency for the strategic project National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd had issued a fresh tender in June and opened the bids on July 24. Three firms L&T Construction, MEIL and railways' PSU Ircon International Limited (IRCON) had been shortlisted by NHIDCL on Tuesday.
“MEIL has emerged as the lowest bidder and is likely to be awarded but no official award letter has been issued yet,” a senior official said requesting anonymity. According to the tender, generally, the lowest bidder shall be the selected bidder.
The project which will be implemented in two sections involves the construction of a connecting road from Z-Morh Tunnel to Zojila Tunnel and a 14.150 km long bi-directional tunnel across Zojila Pass on the Sonamarg-Kargil section of NH-01 on Engineering, Procurement, Construction mode in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The completion period for the first section is 2.5 years and 6.5 years for the second section. The project has been estimated to cost Rs 4429.83 crore.
The long-pending project has gone through many design changes. In its previous tender a ‘parallel escape (egress) tunnel' was also included earlier but has been done away with to reduce the cost of the project, another official said. The project got further delayed after it was stranded by IL&FS Transportation Network amid its financial crisis which was awarded in 2017.
The Zojila Tunnel for connecting Srinagar with Leh will be Asia's longest 14.2 km long two-lane tunnel road and the strategically important tunnel is aimed to drastically reduce travel time from three and a half hours to just 15 minutes. The 14.2 km long road tunnel under Zoji La pass lies between Sonmarg and Drass town in Kargil district of the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh.
The tunnel was a strategic requirement for the armed forces given its proximity to the Line of Control.
“MEIL has become an L-1 in the most prestigious Zoji-la pass tunnel in Jammu Kashmir-Ladakh in Himalayan region. National Highways and Industrial Development Corporation (NHIDCL) has opened the bids on Friday, and MEIL topped the list by quoting less than other companies. MEIL topped as L-1 by quoting a lesser amount than the other two companies. On July 30, three companies submitted the bids to NHIDCL, and the finance bids opened on August 21. The project to be constructed in 2 divisions in two sections of about 33 kilometres,” MEIL said in a statement on Friday.
“The road from Srinagar to Leh in Ladakh is not suitable for vehicular traffic throughout the year. The Srinagar-Ladakh highway is completely closed for six months, especially during the winter season. Even the military vehicles are unable to move under these conditions. Travelling long distances on alternate routes has become a costly affair and a waste of time. Under these circumstances, the road tunnel was proposed between Sonmarg to Leh and Ladakh via Kargil long back,” it added.
