Noida, Aug 19 (APAC Media): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said his ministry would review existing provisions governing the subcontracting of highway works to ensure strict compliance with contractual requirements and clearly fix responsibility on principal contractors for quality and timely execution.
Addressing the 4th edition of FICCI’s Tunnels and Bridges Conference, Gadkari said the ministry was assessing contractors based on their performance and had begun extending the exercise to consultants involved in preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPRs). He said tender eligibility was proposed to be linked to these performance assessments.
“Quality is the top priority, while cost comes second,†he added.
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The minister cited instances of contracts being awarded at substantially lower-than-estimated costs and subsequently subcontracted through multiple layers, with each intermediary retaining a margin. He said Goods and Services Tax (GST) records could help trace such subcontracting chains and identify cases where contractual conditions may have been violated.
“The ministry is preparing tenders for tunnel projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore to Rs 2.5 lakh crore. I urge the industry to take the lead in the domestic manufacturing of tunnel boring machines, as their high capital cost remains a major constraint. We should also organise a technical session on ultra-high-performance concrete,†the minister said.
S Paramasivan, Chair of the FICCI Committee on Roads & Highways and Managing Director of Afcons Infrastructure, flagged four key industry concerns.
He said the predominant use of the L1, or lowest-bid, system was resulting in tenders being awarded at 20 per cent or more below the estimated cost, putting commercial viability and execution quality under pressure.
Paramasivan expressed provisions for quality-cum-cost-based selection (QCBS) already existed with the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) but were rarely used.
He urged the government to adopt QCBS as the preferred method for complex projects and those valued at more than Rs 1,000 crore, with technical parameters accounting for 70-80 per cent of the evaluation.
–ENDS–
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