Work to widen the Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch of NH-33 will begin afresh from April 1 by private contractors under the supervision of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
The tender process for three key stretches, namely, Jamshedpur-Mohulia (44km), Ranchi-Rargaon (77km), Ranchi bypass (26km), was completed earlier this week while the tender for the fourth stretch, between Rargaon and Chandil, would completed by the end of next week.
“The work order for the three stretches of NH-33 linking Ranchi and Jamshedpur has been awarded to private agencies. The tender process for the fourth stretch is expected to be completed soon. Work on all four stretches will commence from April 1 with a deadline of 18 months, which works out to September 2020,” said NHAI regional officer Vijay Shrivastava.
Sources said that tender process for the over 30km fourth stretch between Rargaon (near Tamar) and Chandil (near Kali Mandir, Pardih) will be completed before the imposition of the model code of conduct for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
“Technical bids are in. We will finalise the process at the earliest so that the work order is awarded within a week before the imposition of the poll code,” said a senior NHAI officer.
Sources confirmed that Ahmedabad (Gujarat)-based Iron Triangle had bagged the work order for widening the 44.218km stretch between Jamshedpur (Dimna Road, Mango) and Mohulia (near Ghatshila) at a cost of Rs 379 crore.
A joint venture between Calcutta-based Bharat Vanijiya Eastern and Guwahati-based Bhartia Infra Projects has bagged the work order for the 77.300 km Ranchi-Rargaon (Tamar) stretch of NH-33 at a cost of Rs 351 crore.
The four-lane work of the 26.270km Ranchi bypass section (Vikash Vidyalaya and Rampur) would be undertaken by Ranchi-based Ram Kripal Construction at a cost of Rs 380 crore.
“The projected cost of widening the Rargaon-Chandil stretch of NH-33 has been kept at Rs 205 crore. The tender is expected to be finalised in next 10 days,” said NHAI project director Ajay Sinha.
Work on widening the NH-33, the lifeline of Ranchi and Jamshedpur, has come to a halt since mid-2018 with the private concessionaire, Madhucon Projects, citing financial issues. NHAI had in December last year decided to float tenders for widening the remaining part of the stretch after dividing it into four parts and awarding separate contracts for each.
Jharkhand High Court had in July last year asked CBI to investigate the delay in completing the widening work, pinning the blame on NHAI, the state government and the contractor, MadhuconProjects. Hyderabad-based Madhucon Projects bagged the Rs 1479 crore contract and started work in January 2013. It was meant to complete the project by June 2016, but failed to do so. So far, roughly about 50 per cent of the construction work has been completed.
