Finally, there is a sliver of hope for those wanting to travel via the least time-consuming route from the capital to the southern plains of the country and vice-versa.
After months of delay, the government is resuming the bidding process on Wednesday to select a company for the construction of the country’s crucial fast track which would connect Bara, a district in the Terai to the country’s capital Kathmandu. The completion of the 75-km Kathmandu-Nijgadh fast track will reduce the travel time between the Capital and the Terai and vice-versa by at least four hours. At present, it generally takes at least eight to 12 hours to traverse the distance between the Capital and Terai, and that if there is no strike or road blockade.
The concerned authority—the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works—will announce the re-bidding process on Wednesday seeking Expression of Interest(EoI) from the interested companies.
The selection process was stopped nearly six months ago after the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee(PAC) directed the government to start a fresh bidding process on the ground that the previous one did not allow enough competition which could have possibly slashed the cost of construction.
Though two companies—Landmark Worldwide (South Korea) and Reliance Company (India)—were selected, the government, however, could not award the tender after PAC’s directive.
The new bidding announcement will call the interested companies to submit EoI within 60 days. “We will then select the company within a month of the date of closure for submission of EoI in accordance with the current legal provision,” added Tulasi Prasad Sitaula, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works. Before awarding the tender, the ministry has planned to select six companies which meet the criteria—experience of working under Public-Private Partnership(PPP) and involvement in construction of road more than the 75 km long, among others.
The two companies selected in the earlier bidding process should not enter the new process, according to Joint Secretary Sitaula.” They can only send a commitment letter showing their continued interest in the construction.”
The construction of the fast track is expected to be complete within 5 years. The responsibility for the fast track which is to be constructed in accordance with the Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Act, 2063, will be fully transferred to the government after 30 years. According to the Act, the government can only invest 25 percent of the estimated cost of construction. The total estimated cost of the fast track is Rs. 70 billion, according to Joint Secretary Sitaula.
source: Kathmandu Post