IL&FS-hit Zojila tunnel project goes for rebid

The National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) has floated bid for the third time to construct Zojila tunnel that would connect Kashmir and Ladakh regions all the year round.

The latest round of bid comes after the NHIDCL in mid-January terminated contract with IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL) as the company slipped into deep crisis. ITNL delayed initiating construction for the project, forcing the authorities to terminate the contract.

As per the Request for Proposal tender document brought out by NHIDCL, the estimated cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 4,899.42 crore inclusive of Goods & Services Tax (GST), which is the same bid amount at which ITNL had bagged the project for. Thus input material cost hikes have not been factored in while arriving at the estimated cost of the tunnel project. Interestingly, IRB Infrastructure Developers, which bagged the project for the first time in January 2016, had quoted Rs 10,050 crore.

The estimated cost of the overall project, including the approach roads on either side of the tunnel, will increase the project cost by a couple of thousand of crores.

The tender is for construction, operation and maintenance of two lane bi-directional Zojila tunnel with parallel escape tunnel. The project will be undertaken on an engineering, procurement and construction mode and is expected to be completed in 84 months, or seven years. Thereafter, the construction firm will have to maintain the tunnel for a period of 10 years from the completion date.

The 14.2-km tunnel, to be longest road tunnel, will help people skip Zojila at a height of 11,649 feet and connect Kashmir and Ladakh all around the year. At present, snowfall at Zojila shuts the Srinagar-Leh Highway between November and April.

On a strategic front, the tunnel is needed for the movement of armed forces and their equipment to defend international borders.

In May 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the project after ITNL was declared the lowest bidder in July 2017.

In January 2016, IRB Infrastructure Developers had bagged the project, and in March 2016 the project was cancelled without assigning any reason to the Mumbai-based road

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• The estimated cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 4,899.42 crore inclusive of Goods & Services Tax
   
• The tender is for construction, operation and maintenance of two lane bi-directional Zojila tunnel with parallel escape tunnel