Large infrastructure companies like Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Construction Company, Maytas Infrastructure and Soma Enterprises may have to withdraw from some road projects for which they have been shortlisted for bidding.
This is because a new eligibility condition prevents companies (even as part of a consortium) from taking part in a bid if they have already been shortlisted in eight projects in the last two months. The condition has been introduced by the ministry of road transport and highways in the model request-for-proposal document for highway projects.
The above-mentioned companies have been shortlisted in more than eight projects by the National Highways Authority of India out of the 14 projects that have come up for bidding so far. The ministry has given these companies one week to withdraw from some projects and bring down the number of their bids to eight.
The NHAI is in the process of compiling a list of eligible bidders for at least 40 more highway projects for which all these companies have already submitted their RFP documents.
Infrastructure companies said it was virtually impossible to withdraw from over eight projects in just a week as it would take at least one-two months to properly evaluate the viability of each project.
DV Raju, senior vice-president, Soma Enterprises, which has been shortlisted in a minimum of 12 projects along with its consortium partner, Isolux, said, "It is not practically possible to evaluate the viability of each project and withdraw our bid within a week. A lot of time and money has been invested in preparing the voluminous bid documents that we have submitted. If this additional eligibility clause had been mentioned at the RFQ stage, we would have saved time and resources."
Alluri Narayana Raju, director, Nagarjuna Construction Company, which has been shortlisted in seven projects along with Maytas Infrastructure, said, "The road infrastructure projects are definitely going to get delayed. No company can decide the viability of a project and withdraw within a week. We will have to do a careful study of the estimated traffic, road alignment, estimated construction cost, among other things, which will take at least two months."
Nagarjuna has already submitted the RFQ documents for nearly 40 more highway projects. Though it has been shortlisted for only seven, its consortium partner, Maytas Infrastructure, has been shortlisted for 13 projects.