Huge investment is likely to be made for setting up the new Jharkhand capital in Ranchi. In response to a global tender floated by the Jharkhand government inviting bids from town planners and consultancy firms, 24 companies had bought tender papers against which 14 firms have filed bids.
Several Indian companies have formed consortium with the foreign companies to grab the prestigious bid. The tenders were opened on September 10 in presence of the development commissioner, Jharkhand, G Krishnan. Evaluation process is on to select the bidder.
The major terms and conditions which the bidders have to fulfil include that the bidder has experience of setting up a township of five lakh population, turnover of Rs 10 crore per annum against consultancy fee and performed consultancy to a town project costing Rs 200 crore.
The UK-based High Point Rendel (HPR), which is in joint venture with the Swastik Group of Companies of Ranchi, has formed consortium with nine companies to deal with the town planning such as landscaping, architecture, water supply and distribution, finance, digital mapping, geotechnical investigations, power generation.
The companies which joined the consortium of HPR are: US-based EDAW Ltd, Kikken Sekkel (Tokyo), Government of India enterprise WAPCOS, Bhagwati Design Pvt Ltd (Mumbai), C P Kukreja Associates Ltd (New Delhi), Fugro (Mumbai), M N Dastur (Kolkata), Srel Capital Markets (Kolkata) and STUP Consultants (Mumbai).
The Mumbai-based MSCN Belkar has formed a consortium with two UK-based companies - Chapman and Hutting, Consultancy Engineering Services with the Ranchi-based Mecon Ltd Arch Consultancy Services (New Delhi) with Singapore-based Mainhat, state-run RITES with Tata Consultancy Services, Development Consultants (Kolkata) with Chaudhary and Littlefield of UK, Sidco (Mumbai) with Tata Consultancy Engineering, Gruven Associates (Mumbai) with Gadi Pvt Ltd, Ledanswain and Devis with P B Consultants and APC, Redicon Pvt Ltd (New Delhi) with a Zakarta-based company and Engineering India Ltd with a California-based company. Besides three companies - CPWD, Dalal Consultants (New Delhi) and Operation Research Group (ORG) have claimed the bid on their own.
One of the bidders has suggested the state government to name the new capital likely to be set up at an estimated Rs 10,000 crore, after the name of tribal icon Birsa Munda.
