Jamshedpur: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to widen and repair NH-33, linking Jharkhand's capital Ranchi with industrial capital Jamshedpur, by dividing work in four stretches across three districts among four contractors.
In principle, the contract with Hyderabad-based private concessionaire Madhucon Projects will be terminated, said an NHAI regional officer posted in Ranchi. Madhucon Projects had bagged the Rs 1,479-crore contract to widen into four lanes a 138km-long stretch of NH-33 and started work on January 2013 with a deadline of June 2016 but could not complete the work so far.
NHAI will wait till Jharkhand High Court disposes of the PIL on repair delay before officially ending the contract.
The NHAI headquarters in Delhi is currently surveying the quantum of finished work.
A senior NHAI official closely associated with the highway project said they were hopeful that the CBI, as directed by the high court this July, would submit its probe report within three months, that is October last week.
"Only after the court verdict will we announce the termination of the contract with the private concessionaire. By then, we want to complete a few things, such as estimating the quantum of work left and finalising the tenders to start work under EPC mode (engineering, procurement and construction), in place of the BOT (built-operate-transfer) mode so far," he said.
Under EPC mode, the central government will raise capital and procure clearances while the private contractor/s would only build the road.
Ranchi-based regional officer of NHAI Vijay Shrivastava said the NHAI would take up the work on the highway between Ranchi and Jamshedpur in four stretches through an equal number of contractors.
"The stretches are between Vikas Vidyalaya and Namkum (Ranchi); Namkum and Chowka (Seraikela-Kharsawan); Chowka and Chilgu (Chandil, Seraikela-Kharsawan) and Chilgu and Mohulia (near Jamshedpur in East Singhbhum). Toll plazas will come up along the highway stretch at points 60km apart. Contractors, as per the tender clause, will have to maintain the highway for a period of five years after construction," he said.
This July, Jharkhand High Court had asked the CBI to investigate into the inordinate delay in the NH-33 widening project, blaming NHAI, the state government and the contractor (Madhucon Projects).
As a stopgap, NHAI has floated a Rs 17-crore tenders to make NH-33 motorable immediately after monsoon.
