The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has tightened its noose around sub-contractors, with a minimum eligibility clause, to ensure the quality of roads being built and avoid mishaps like the Kota bridge collapse that claimed 30 lives.
The new clause, introduced for the first time, states that sub-contractors, engaged by a concessionaire, must have the experience of completing at least a single highway project of 20 per cent value of the estimated project cost in the preceding five years from the date of execution of the current work.
So, a concessionaire can award projects worth Rs 1,000 crore to a sub contractor, if only the sub-contractor has done a project worth Rs 200 crore in the last five years. Most of the work in laying roads is done by thousands odd sub-contractors under the supervision of a concessionaire.
| RULE OF THE ROAD |
| * A concessionaire shall engage sub-contractors with an experience of at least one single completed highway work of value at least 20% of the estimated project cost in the preceding 5 years |
| * A bidder shall not be eligible if, as on the due date, the bidder either by itself or as member of a consortium has been declared by NHAI as the selected bidder for undertaking three or more projects and the bidder is yet to achieve financial close |
| * A sub-contractor constructs roads and is awarded projects by the concessionaire |
| * According to the new requirement, a concessionaire can award projects worth Rs 1,000 crore to a sub-contractor |
“We have done this to maintain the quality of roads being built,” said a senior NHAI official on condition of anonymity. The new clause, the official said, would be helpful to concessionaires as they will have to spend less on the maintenance of roads.
Sources claim NHAI took this step after it found that a sub-contractor with no experience of building bridge, was actually implementing the Kota bridge that collapsed. Though experts hail the decision taken by NHAI, they pointed out that it would be difficult to find experienced contractors in all parts of the country. Also, there will be some kind of political pressure as well.
NHAI has also ruled that a concessionaire can bid for three projects at a time, subject to no pending financial closure. “We have lot of projects up for bidding and we cannot let them go to any concessionaire, making their implementation difficult, thus lagging behind our target of building roads at the pace of 20 km a day. This clause will also give the bidders time to concentrate on starting work on the projects awarded to them,” said the NHAI official.
However, industry sources say that the new move will be detrimental as NHAI has to offer over 126 projects for bidding in the current financial year and they have been able to award only 43 till now. “NHAI is looking for established players who have experience to get contracts and avoid fly by night operators. However, there are not many large construction companies and by limiting us, the government is actually encouraging small fly by night players. This will adversely impact the road quality,” said a source.
| RULE OF THE ROAD # A concessionaire shall engage sub-contractors with an experience of at least one single completed highway work of value at least 20% of the estimated project cost in the preceding 5 years # A bidder shall not be eligible if, as on the due date, the bidder either by itself or as member of a consortium has been declared by NHAI as the selected bidder for undertaking three or more projects and the bidder is yet to achieve financial close # A sub-contractor constructs roads and is awarded projects by the concessionaire # According to the new requirement, a concessionaire can award projects worth Rs 1,000 crore to a sub-contractor |
