NEW DELHI: The promised nonstop drive between Delhi and Mumbai may have to wait until Dec 2029, with the govt’s flagship Delhi-Mumbai Expressway running more than five years behind its original deadline. Work on three sections, spanning around 90 km, of the high-speed corridor in Gujarat is yet to start, with NHAI processing bids for two sections, including one where the last successful bidder withdrew from the project, forfeiting Rs 15 crore of bid security.The process of appointing a replacement contractor for the third section is in its final stage.The three packages in Gujarat — package 8, 9 and 10 — were earlier awarded to Pune-based highway developer Roadways Solutions India Infra Ltd (RSIIL), but the contracts were terminated as it failed to meet the set milestones despite getting multiple extensions, NHAI officials said.They said that for package-8 (Jujuwa to Gandewa), NHAI has received seven bids and for package 9 (Karvad to Jujuwa), there are six bids. NHAI had to go for fresh bids for package-8 after the last successful bidder, Bansal Construction Works, did not sign the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) “without quoting any reason”. TOI has learnt that officials were surprised to find that the company raised no issues and forfeited the bid security amount, which is unheard of in NHAI’s recent history.People aware of the development said RSIIL, which has been blacklisted by NHAI from bidding for projects following non-performance, has submitted a bid for package-9. Officials said that though RSIIL has moved court against NHAI’s eligibility criteria, which exclude it from bidding, Delhi High Court has green-lighted NHAI’s evaluation of the bids. The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing next week.
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Officials said they are confident of completing the process this month so that work can start in the next couple of months. They added that the construction work would take around two years. “These three stretches would be ready latest by December 2029. The Expressway project has faced delay due to several reasons, including Covid-19, delay in land acquisition and statutory approvals,” said one of them.People involved in the project said that apart from the three sections in Gujarat, one stretch each in Maharashtra and Rajasthan is yet to be completed. These two sections would be ready by April 2027.Govt had promised to bring down the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai by half to barely 12 hours through the expressway.
