Kathmandu, October 26
Six international construction firms have submitted their tender documents to the Department of Roads, for the construction of the much-hyped 2.69-kilometre-long Nagdhunga to Naubise tunnel project on October 25.
Among the construction companies that have submitted their bids to DoR, five are Chinese firms and one is a Japanese construction company, informed Sanjaya Kumar Shrestha, deputy director general at DoR.
The Department of Roads had called a global tender for the construction of the Nagdhunga-Naubise tunnel project on
August 9, asking interested firms to submit their technical and financial proposals by October 10. However, the government had published a notice on October 4 and extended the deadline for the submission of the bids to October 25.
The DoR had extended the deadline because some of the renowned construction firms had said that the time given to submit the tender documents was very less and had requested for an extension to the deadline.
According to Shrestha, a total of 42 national joint venture firms and international construction companies had purchased the tender bid document. However, only six companies have submitted their tender documents.
“We were expecting more companies to submit their bids as that would have given us more choices while selecting the appropriate company but only six firms participated in the bid,” he said.
Earlier, the DoR had consulted with development partner, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for extending the deadline. JICA will be providing loan assistance worth $141.41 million to Nepal for construction of the Nagdhunga to Naubise tunnel project. The estimated cost of the project hovers at around $188.19 million. The remaining cost of the project will be borne by the Nepal government.
This tunnel project — the first tunnel road project in the country — will be developed using cutting-edge technology from Japan.
Meanwhile, the DoR has said that it will complete the land acquisition process and finalise the tender process by January 10 next year.
The government has planned to acquire 267 ropanis of land in Nagdhunga area of Kathmandu and 109 ropanis of land in Naubise of Dhading district for the project. “We are in the final stage of completing the land acquisition process and it will be completed soon,” Shrestha informed.
As per DoR, the tunnel project will be completed by 2021.
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Written by Nikki Hamal
This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/six-intl-firms-submit-bids-to-construct-nagdhunga-naubise-tunnel-project/ under the title “Six int’l firms submit bids to construct Nagdhunga-Naubise tunnel project”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
