CAREC tranche III: Chinese JV wins all four packages

LAHORE: Following a healthy and transparent competition, a Chinese-led joint venture secured all four packages of tranche III of the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Corridor Project, saving a total of Rs13.24 billion, said a statement on Wednesday.

The joint venture is led by the Chinese firm Ningxia Communications Construction, with Rustam Associates and Dynamic Constructors as its local partners. Certain bidders shared grievances with the redressal committee to prevent the opening of financial bids. However, the incumbent management of the National Highway Authority (NHA), in line with the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, ensured transparency and, after properly addressing the aforementioned grievances, decided to open the financial bids.

It is evident from the record that this decision by the NHA’s incumbent management not only saved Rs13.24 billion, but the timely completion of the procurement process saves much more than this amount, the statement said.

According to the financial evaluation of the bids, the NXCC-led JV won all four contracts with a clear margin, as the difference between the first and second lowest bidder for lot 1, lot 2, lot 3 and lot 4 was Rs1.4 billion, Rs2.4 billion, Rs2.3 billion and Rs7.1 billion, respectively.

The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank. Tranche III comprised four lots for which technical and financial proposals were sought independently from reputable construction firms, and a total of 20 firms submitted their bids.

Under tranche III, an additional carriageway will be built on the N-55 between Rajhanpur–Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan, converting a two-lane highway into a four-lane highway. It is pertinent to mention that the NHA is already executing CAREC tranche I and tranche II. Tranche I includes a 66.37km-long section I between Petaro–Sehawan and a 43.4km-long section II between Ratodero–Shikarpur.

Section I between Petaro–Sehawan is being built by Xinjiang Beixin Road and Bridge Group and is 98 per cent complete. Meanwhile, section II between Ratodero–Shikarpur, which is being constructed by a joint venture comprising TIEC and Umer Jan, is 43 per cent complete.

Tranche II of CAREC also has four lots: a 62.42km-long lot 1 between Shikarpur–Kandhkot (58.78km long) being constructed by M/s ZKB with 14 per cent progress; a 58.78km-long lot 2 between Kandhkot–Kashmore being constructed by M/s CCECC with 16 per cent progress; a 48.90km-long lot 3 between Kashmore and Rojhan being constructed by ZKB with 23 per cent progress; and a 51.85km-long lot 4 from Rojhan to Rajanpur being constructed by ZKB with 20 per cent progress.