Three firms are in the fray to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Kundannoor-Angamaly NH bypass, as National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) opened the project’s technical bids on Tuesday.
The agency will take 15 days to evaluate the bids, following which their financial bids will be opened in another week. “The firm which bags the contract and the score it gets will be published on the NHAI website in April. An agreement will be inked with the firm,” official sources said.
Out of a score of 100, the agency will grant a score of 75 for technical expertise and the remaining 25 for the firm’s financial condition.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has fixed a 44-day deadline for the whole process. The firm will thus have to ready the DPR and alignment within a year, by April 2018. Even while the report is being prepared, the State’s consent on finalising the alignment will be sought. This will enable NHAI to commence the land acquisition process while the DPR preparation is under way. Land will be acquired at a width of 45 metres for the proposed four-lane bypass and its service roads. The new bypass has been mooted as land acquisition to further widen the Kundannoor-Edappally portion of the existing bypass is difficult.
The daily passenger car units (PCUs) on the four-lane bypass exceeded the 50,000 mark many years ago, calling for either widening it to six-lane or to develop a new bypass. Land will be acquired at a width of 45 metres for the purpose, the officials said.
Flyovers, underpasses
In the meantime, Feedback Infra, which is engaged in preparing a DPR to widen Kozhikode-Edappally NH stretch into six lanes and was asked to study the scope of six-laning the 25-km-long Edappally-Eramaloor corridor, is expected to submit the report in a month or two. Details of the much-delayed flyovers at Vyttila and Kundannoor too will find mention in the DPR. The firm is also likely to propose underpasses at busy junctions on the stretch, NHAI sources said.
Currently, a proposal is under consideration to pool in State and Central funds for the long-delayed flyovers at Vyttila and Kundannoor. The funding mode will be decided once the DPR is ready, they added.
The demand for foot overbridges at pedestrian-dense areas too is expected to be taken care of in the report.
