February 18: Three Chinese companies have been selected in the prequalification round to build bridges and tunnels along the Kathmandu-Terai fast track.
A total of 43 companies had submitted proposals for the pre-qualification round. Only three companies that met the requirements have been selected for the project. The Nepalese Army (NA), which has been assigned the responsibility to construct the fast track, has asked those three companies to submit financial and technical proposals.
The NA had sought proposals for tunnel packages 1 and 2 for the fast track which is currently under construction. It took almost five months for the NA to complete the evaluation process of those companies. Of the shortlisted companies, Poly Changda Engineerng Corporation Limited has been selected for both the packages and China Engineering Corporation Limited has been selected for the first package. The first package consist of construction of four major bridges and the second package constitutes construction of one major bridge and other special bridges. Along with this, construction of roads connecting to fast track also fall under the packages.
Brigadier General Santosh Ballav Poudel, spokesperson of NA, told that only a few companies have been shortlisted as majority of the companies could not meet the requirements like. According to him three companies have been shortlisted in accordance to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The shortlisted companies have to submit financial and technical proposals within the next 45 days. If the financial and technical reports meet the criteria they will be awarded the contract in the second week of June.
The construction of tunnels and bridges constitute a major part of the fast track. As the construction of tunnels and bridges has not started, it has affected the overall progress of the fast track project. Three tunnels and 16 bridges will be built along the 76.2-kilometre-long Kathmandu-Terai Fast Track. The tunnels are 41 km long and combined length of the bridges is 10.59km.
