‘Negligible progress’: NHAI notice to firm on ending contract for Delhi-Mumbai Expressway work

The project milestones were revised and modified on a number of occasions, the NHAI said, noting that “despite the continuous support by the authority, the contractor failed to demonstrate any improvement”.

It said the contractor was required to shift the utility from the site and despite NHAI paying supervision charges, the RSIIL failed to do so, and start work. It said the contractor failed to mobilise adequate machinery as per the requirement at the site.

“Three supplementary agreements were done with the contractor to jointly resolve the issues in the project, but there has been no significant progress,” the NHAI told the company. It said that upon expiry of the notice, the authority would be entitled to terminate the contract.

The Indian Express contacted the NHAI for an official comment on the letter. It is yet to respond.

Earlier, Navjeet Gadhoke, Director, RSIIL, said “the delay is not on part of the contractor, it is the default of the NHAI for non provision of land”. He said the company got the work again in rebidding because “there was no default” on its part.

The expressway, which passes through Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, is divided into 53 packages. Three packages – numbers 8 (Jujuwa-Gandeva), 9 (Karvad-Jujuwa) and 10 (Talsari-Karvad) on the Vadodara-Virar section – were awarded to RSIIL in May, July and March of 2021, respectively.

The NHAI first scrapped the contract for Jujuwa-Gandeva and Karvad-Jujuwa in March 2023 due to delays, and issued a new tender. The RSIIL participated in the tender process again, and ended up bagging the contract for both sections in November 2023 with the lowest bid.

At the end of almost four years now, less than 20 per cent of the 87-km stretch under these three packages has been completed, while the rest of the expressway in Gujarat is almost ready.