The Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Ltd (UPSBCL) on Tuesday said it has issued a fresh tender to select a contractor to build the Chilla elevated road.
In its earlier tender, the UPSBCL had failed to select a contractor because only two companies placed bids.
The companies — DR Agrawal Infracon and L&T — qualified technically, but they placed higher bids than mentioned in the tender for completing the project.
The DR Agrawal placed a quotation of 22% ( ₹828 crore), which was more than the tender cost of ₹680 crore and L&T bid was 35% more at ₹917 crore. As a result, the UPSBCL failed to select an agency for the construction work.
“As per the rules, a government agency cannot award a tender at a price higher than price approved in the tender. As a result, the UPSBCL has issued a fresh tender inviting bids from the interested construction agencies. The UPSBCL will finalise the construction contractor once it gets the bids from new builders,” said a UPSBCL official, asking not to be named.
As per the fresh tender, a contractor who will be considered eligible for the project should have completed at least one bridge over a river, an elevated road, or a flyover of a total length of more than 2.7km, with a budget of not less than ₹250 crore, said officials.
“Also, the contractor must have built at least one superstructure over a road intersection having a span not less than 55 metres in the past five years. In the earlier tender, the eligibility was different for the contractor as he must have built an elevated road of over 3.5km with a cost of ₹300 crore, including superstructure with a span of 72 metres,” said the official.
The UPSBCL relaxed the terms of experience so that more contractors apply.
The contractor can submit their bids till March 30, 2024, and the technical bids will be opened on April 2, 2024.
The elevated road, spanning 5.96km, will have six lanes, and once ready, will allow congestion-free travel between Akshardham, Mayur Vihar, Noida, Pari Chowk, Kalindi Kunj, and Sarita Vihar.
The authority started work on the Chilla elevated road on January 25, 2019, right after chief minister Yogi Adityanath laid the foundation stone for the project. The Noida authority in March 2020, in its 200th board meeting, asked its staff to stop work on the Chilla elevated road owing to a financial crisis.
The PWD said it could not release the funds because the funding pattern did not have state approval, said officials.
“In 2019, the work had started without the cabinet approving the funding pattern. As a result, the PWD could not release funds. But now all fund approval issues have been resolved,” said another Noida authority official, asking not to be named