The foundation stone for the second road overbridge on river Kharkai. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, April 17: The construction work of the second bridge over the Kharkai would get delayed further as the tender papers of the bidders were rejected after scrutiny.

Finding the bidders who submitted the tender papers unfit, the road construction wing of Public Works Department (PWD) had to float fresh tenders for the Rs 12.5 crore project. The papers for fresh tenders would be available on sale from April 25. The date of submission of tender papers has been fixed as May 19.

Executive engineer, PWD (road construction), Vinod Kumar said none of the bidders who participated in the tender qualified successfully.

“In all, five construction companies had bought the tender papers. Of the five, only three firms submitted their tenders on March 27. A scrutiny was done and none of the bidders were found to be fit to handle the project,” said the executive engineer.

According to sources, the contractors who participated in the tender process in the first phase were all local companies. They were Nav Nirman Builders, KK Builders and a firm in Jugsalai.

Sources said: “When the tender papers were floated, two Calcutta-based construction companies had bought the tender papers. But the companies did not submit the tender papers.”

On the reason for cancellation of tenders, Kumar said it was the prerogative of the scrutiny committee in the PWD (road construction) headquarters in Ranchi. The proposed four-lane road-bridge would be set up just beside the existing bridge. The PWD had declared the existing bridge unsafe and banned movement of vehicles carrying a load weighing over 18 tonnes.