| "We will have to go in for fresh bidding for these projects due to lack of response from construction companies," a road transport and highway department official told Business Standard. |
| The lukewarm response may not bode well for 15 BOT stretches for which bids have been invited under the 7,300 km phase-2 of the National Highway Development Programme to be completed by 2007. |
| With a four-fold increase in the length of stretches to be taken up via the BOT route, the beginning has not been encouraging. The 76 km Palanpaur-Pindwara stretch in Rajasthan attracted just one bid despite three extensions of the deadline for submitting bids. |
| Officials said if the bid was not found feasible, the transport department would have to request the government to take over the project. The 62-km Bara-Orai stretch project in Uttar Pradesh had also not attracted any private company and hence, the tendering process would have to be repeated, the officials added. |
| Moreover, of the 57 projects worth Rs 12,000 crore awarded in the current year, only one was on the BOT basis. The Panipat expressway project was awarded to L&T on this basis last month. |
| Officials pointed out that the National Highway Authority of India was going slow on BOT projects as the final version of the model concession document was awaited. |
| To add to NHAI woes, even the government-funded contracts were not finding any takers. |
| Bids have to be invited again for four government-funded projects in Bihar on the Purnia-Muzaffarpur stretch. While two stretches received only one bid, the other two did not get any response at all, according to officials. |
| Meanwhile, NHAI is trying its best to award as many contracts under the much delayed phase-2 as possible. This phase is just 10 per cent complete. In July, Rs 2,000 crore worth NHAI-funded projects across about 400 km have been awarded. |
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