The hopes that the Centre might favourably consider the State’s plea to allow single bid for concreting the 13-km stretch of the Shiradi Ghat have been dashed with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) saying that it is against the guidelines from the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
This will not have a bearing on the project as only a part of the Shiradi Ghat will be reconstructed contrary to promises late last year that entire stretch would get a total facelift.
Having launched the tender of late, in December last, the National Highways wing of Karnataka Public Works Department received only one bid, that too after extending the deadline twice. When PWD sought MoRTH’s concurrence to award project to the single bidder, the Ministry wrote saying that it cannot be accepted.
Fresh bids have to be invited, the Ministry said in a communiqué to the PWD recently. Meanwhile, attempts by Union Minister for Law and Justice D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha Member Nalin Kumar to persuade Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to award the contract to the single bidder on Thursday went in vein, it is learnt.
Responding to the developments, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim said the administration would have no option but to open the Shiradi Ghat before the onset of monsoon to traffic. By that time, the contractor executing Phase 1 of the concrete works should have completed the work, he said. The administration would decide further closure of the ghat once the PWD finalises the tender, he said.
The department had planned concreting 26 km of the Ghat and relaying bitumen on the 21-km stretch between Gulagale and Heggadde at a cost of about Rs. 154 crore. The work was divided into two packages, the first being concreting the 13-km stretch between Heggadde and Kempu Hole guest house and the second being concreting Kempu Hole guest house-Adda Hole near Gundya (13 km) and asphalting the 21 km stretch.
Single bidder cannot be awarded the contract, says Road Transport Ministry
