Ganga pathway project delayed yet again
An ambitious Rs 2,234.46 crore Ganga Pathway project, dubbed as the "harbinger of change" by road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, may take some more time to become a reality.
Construction companies, which qualified the request for qualification (RFQ), refused to offer their expression of interest (EoI) for the project under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode despite a confidence-building meeting with investors and extended deadline of submission to September 15.
In keeping with investorsf reluctance towards the project that envisages building of 21.5 km four-lane corridor along river Ganga, the state road construction department (RCD) has extended the date for receiving RFP, popularly known as financial bid, to October 10. Yadav, however, said that fresh opening of bid documents had to be postponed till October 10 on request from construction firms.
Apparently let down by investorsf disinterest in the project, department secretary Pratyaya Amrit had convened a meeting of representatives of five construction companies in New Delhi on August 22 and sought to allay their apprehensions about low return from the project. Confident of bringing back investors to the discussion table, the department had revised the RFP bid opening date to September 15.
Following positive sentiments emerging from the New Delhi meeting, the department had requested all nine construction companies, including Reliance Infrastructure, C&C, Isolux, Transstroy India Limited and Nagarjuna Construction Company, Simplex and Welspun, to offer fresh financial bids. Sources, however, confided, that the investors had been insisting on some modifications in the terms and conditions of PPP mode and toll charges to be realised from travellers.
The minister is learnt to have refused a relook at the terms and conditions of the proposed project, claiming that the firm, which bags the order, could make good profit out of the Ganga Pathway, as it would work as a link to three national highways - 19, 98 and 30. This will also ease the problem of perennial traffic congestion on the Digha-Patna City stretch.
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