PMGSY’s global tender worth Rs 666 crore, big blow to contractors

Shimla. Himachali contractors may face a big shock in the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. PWD has decided to conduct a global tender for 666 km of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Roads will be constructed at the rate of one crore per kilometre. In this, firms from outside the state can apply and on the basis of these applications, they will get tenders in PMGSY and the contractors from the state will have to be out of the race.

Actually, PWD has made a major change in the tender process of 666 km of roads to be built on the basis of Full Depth Reclamation (FDR). The rules set by the department under this technology are not followed by any contractor in Himachal. The department has made it mandatory to have a machine used in FDR technology.

This machine is worth around Rs 12 crore and is not available with any contractor in Himachal. Along with this, the second condition: Experience of constructing roads with FDR technology up to 50 kilometers has also been included in the condition. Due to these two conditions, all the contractors of Himachal have been left out of the tender process.

Although an opportunity has been left open by the department that the contractors of the state can form a joint bench and take tenders in the state along with the firms working with FDR in other states, but this process will not be easy. Full depth reclamation is a German technology. After uprooting the road surface, a new road is prepared from the same debris. Using this technology pollution is reduced. Earlier, FDR technology was started in Uttar Pradesh and after this it was used in the construction of roads in Bihar and Assam. Now in PMGSY phase three, the work of renovation of previously constructed roads is to be done. Chief Engineer Ajay Gupta said that there is no firm in Himachal which has this machine.

He said that even if a firm buys the machine, it will have to show the experience of building 50 kilometers of roads and with this condition all the contractors of Himachal will automatically be out. He said that the contractors of the state can work through Joint Bencher, but for this they will have to contact the companies working in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam.

FDR roads will be constructed in Himachal on the basis of the model of Uttar Pradesh. Only global tenders will be done in FDR technology. About two thousand kilometers of construction is left for the contractors of Himachal, they can manage the work with this.