The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) has floated a fifth tender for the construction, operation, maintenance and transfer of a passenger ropeway in the hills from Giddhapahar to Rohini.

The last day to submit bids is March 27. 'Transfer' means that the company bagging the contract can operate the ropeway for 30 years before handing it over to the hill body.

The GTA had awarded the contract to a Calcutta-based firm in 2014 to construct the 2.3km ropeway that will connect Rohini near Siliguri with Giddapahar of Kurseong.

The ₹16 crore project was to be completed within 18 months.

“However, the company concerned could not complete the project within the stipulated time. They cited the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation and the 2020 pandemic as reasons. Delays led to escalations in project cost,” said a source.

A source said that when the detailed project report was prepared, GST had not been put in force. The GST inflated project cost further.

The company completed 15 of the 16 towers of the mono-cable structure. Apart from setting up another tower, the control panel also has to be set up, a source said.

“Till 2021, the GTA had paid around ₹13.06 crore to the construction firm. However, the firm still needed around ₹5.9 crore to complete the project.

In 2021, the company exited through a clause in the agreement.

After this, the hill body planned to go for a public-private-partnership (PPP) model to complete the ropeway project, said a source in the GTA.

“This is the fifth time that we have floated the tender,” said the source.

During the first two tenders, only one firm applied. The third time, they did not get "proper proposals".

“We had finalised a firm through the fourth tender. However, that firm was blacklisted in Jharkhand recently. Hence, we did not go ahead with that contract,” the source added.

The firm bagging the contract needs to get safety certificates from competent authorities as the project was first started almost 12 years ago in 2014, a GTA source said.

Additional reporting by Bireswar Banerjee in Siliguri