NH-29 Package – III: HC directs NHIDCL to execute fresh contract with JV firms

April 13, 2023 49 Views No Comment

M/s Vilelie Khamo & Sons and M/s Chabou & Co jointly bid for completion of Phase-III

Morung Express News
Kohima | April 13

The Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench has directed the NHIDCL to execute the ‘fresh contract’ for completion of Package III of the ongoing National Highway-29 Dimapur-Kohima project as per the Joint Venture (JV) bid submitted by two firms.

The contract should be executed in terms of deliberations during a meeting held on March 29 between the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and one of the firms (contractors), stated the Court order passed on March 31.

“The Project in question shall be got completed by awarding the work to the Joint Venture Bid of M/s Vilelie Khamo & Sons and M/s Chabou & Co,” directed the order issued by the Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice LS Jamir.

“The contractors shall complete the road within the stipulated period in terms of the contract,” added the order, recently uploaded on the HC Bench’s website. The Court was also apprised during hearing that the period of completion prescribed under the freshly Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) was two years.

As per the March 31 order, during the March 29 deliberations, among others, representatives of one of the two firms submitted that they have no issues in proceeding with the work though contract amount has been revised to Rs 119.72 crore, from the original amount of Rs 146.93 crore in the NIT issued by the NHIDCL.

However, the officials at NHIDCL headquarter did not accept the ‘conclusions drawn’ at the meeting while it floated fresh NIT for completion of the Package III quoting Rs 146.93 crore.

To this end, the Bench noted as per the meeting deliberations, the two firms in their bid had agreed to complete the project at a cost of Rs.119.72.

The offer made by the JV firms is almost Rs 27 crore lower than the project cost quoted in the fresh NIT, it observed.

The Bench further stated that no reasons whatsoever were given in a letter dated March 30 by the NHIDCL regarding the decision to turn down the JV proposal.

Accordingly, the Bench noted that the Court is “not in the least convinced to approve the perfunctory and mechanical rejection of the perfectly valid, viable and well evaluated JV proposal for completing the highway.”

Making a strong observation, the Bench opined that if “pedantic approach of NHIDCL officials is allowed,” it may result in further delay in construction of the highway without any hope of completion in the future.

Underscoring the importance of the completion of the highway for the development of the States of Nagaland and Manipur, it further noted that the delay is causing huge inconvenience to the public at large and is also having an adverse impact on the public exchequer.

Accordingly, it “rejected” the stand taken by the NHIDCL in its letter dated March 30 and conveyed orally to the Court that remaining work should be completed by resorting to a fresh NIT by terming it “absolutely unjustified, unreasonable.”

Arriving at its direction, the Bench also considered the submission by the General Manager of the NHIDCL indicating that “despite all odds, M/s Chabou & Co. has managed to maintain the two-lane highway in a condition which is acceptable to the NHIDCL officials as a stopgap substitute for the four-lane highway.”

This verifies the firm’s credentials in executing the work in question, it said.

Consequently, the Bench stated that the conclusion arrived on the March 29 meeting “is viable at a much lower cost as compared to the price fixed in the fresh NIT” and is the only “acceptable solution to the issue at hand.”

“The proposal dated 29.03.2023 thus deserves to be given a seal of approval by this Court,” it added, issuing the aforesaid directions and listing the matter for further hearing on April 26.

This Kohima Bench took up the Pubic Interest Litigation (Sou Motu) in 2019 after it came to its knowledge that the project which was to be completed in the month of September 2019 has not been completed.

It must be noted here that the Package-III project has been besieged with problems and the contracts with the first (Gayatri Projects Ltd) and second contractor (Oasis Techno Construction Ltd) contractors were ‘terminated’ midway, hampering its progress.

At the direction of the High Court, the NHIDCL also engaged a local contractor for maintenance of the two-lane road at the stretch roughly covering the Piphema to Jotsoma stretch (Design Km 152.490 to Km 166.700).