Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari had laid the foundation stone for the much-awaited Widening of the Hubballi Dharwad bypass on February 28th, 2022.
But since then, the project has seen bare minimum progress or at least there are no visible signs of widening on the ground which baffled the citizens of the twin cities.
Let us take a look at the actual progress of the project since the foundation stone laying ceremony was held almost 9 months ago.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had called tender for the Widening of the existing 2-lane (31.6 km) Hubballi Dharwad bypass to 6 lanes on 8th January 2022.
After Bhoomi pooja on 28th February 2022, NHAI recieved bids from 19 companies to construct the 6-lane bypass between the twin cities of Hubballi and Dharwad.
The technical bid was opened on 23rd June 2022. Among 19 companies who bid for the project, 15 companies (including ones with JV) passed the overall assessment of NHAI.
The technical evaluation (internal) of bids received was conducted on 27th July 2022. All 15 bids received were eligible for financial opening. The rest 4 were technically non-qualified and hence omitted from the Financial opening.
Among eligible bidders, a Letter of Award (LOA) for the execution of project was issued to the joint venture of M/s APS Hydro Private Limited and M/s R&C Infra Engineers Private Limited on the same day.
As of now, Signing of contract agreement between the Agency and NHAI is under progress at NHAI HQ, New Delhi.
The work will commence after issuing the Appointed Date to Agency. (Information Courtesy: Sunil Nalavade through the public grievance raised on PG Portal).
Widening of the Hubballi Dharwad bypass was a long pending demand from the Hubballi Dharwad citizens.
The 31.6km stretch of the road will be widened to a 6-lane expressway including 4 lane service road (2+2 lanes on both sides).
The project will be executed under EPC mode. As per the tender, the project is likely to be completed within 2.5 years. The estimated cost of construction is ₹1200 Crores. More details on the project can be found here.