Title - Rs 3,300-cr contract awarded for Kanpur freight corridor - The Times of India

LUCKNOW: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) on Thursday granted its first major contract worth Rs 3,300 crore for construction of 343-km double track line between Kanpur and Khurja. A joint venture of Tata and Spanish firm Aldesa won the contract from among 10 other bidders through an international competitive bidding process.

According to RK Gupta, the managing director of DFC Corporation of India Limited, the contract is unique as it is a World Bank-funded contract that requires execution of the work within a specific time frame.

Framed with the active support of the Planning Commission, the ministry of Railways, the World Bank, the bid document has been designed keeping in mind the Cabinet mandate for execution of the works through lumpsum contracting.

While this contract is likely to be completed in four years and is the first World Bank- funded contract of this size, the current year will also witness other large-sized contracts being awarded for the JICA-funded Western Corridor.

With the objective of inducting state-of-the-art technology, DFCCIL adopted a unique three-stage bidding process wherein international bidders were given the opportunity to submit alternative technologies available for construction of heavy haul track. During the second stage of technical bids, these technologies were evaluated keeping in mind the performance requirements and based on cross acceptance criterion. The financial bids were invited only after detailed scrutiny of the technical offers, while ensuring that a vendor- agnostic approach to technical specifications is followed.

Another notable feature of the bidding process was the adoption of a slice and package approach wherein entire section was split into three slices. Although separate eligibility criteria was set up on per slice basis, bidders were evaluated in terms of their technical capacity and financial capability for undertaking the number of slices and/or to take on the entire work as well. However, they were free to quote for all the slices thus increasing the overall competition.

DFCCIL, a Special Purpose Vehicle is engaged in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors and in the first phase, the two corridors, namely, Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1839 kilometres) and the Western Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) (1499 kilometres) are being constructed.

The entire Western Corridor is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), while the Eastern Corridor from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World Bank.

Approximately, 8000 hectares of land spread over nine states and 61 districts have been acquired in a span of less than three years for both the corridors. The remaining 18% land acquisition is in progress.

Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had recently reviewed the implementation of DFC project, attended by senior railway officials including chairman, Railway Board, Vinay Mittal.