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A short-term Rs 9 crore tender, issued last month, this time with a revised policy of issuing separate tenders for demolition and reconstruction, has attracted four bids. (File photo)
The collapse of a 43-year-old bridge in Gujarat’s Vadodara that claimed several lives early Wednesday brought the Hatkeshwar Bridge under the spotlight. Built at a cost of Rs 40 crore to connect Khokhra and CTM crossroads in Ahmedabad, the bridge was closed for the public following multiple tender processes, owing to structural safety issues. More than three years later, it still stares at uncertainty.
A short-term Rs 9 crore tender, issued last month, this time with a revised policy of issuing separate tenders for demolition and reconstruction, has attracted four bids. A decision is expected this month after approvals from the Standing Committee and the Roads and Buildings Committee of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. This was the first single bid received for the demolition work and thus the tender was reissued in June — and this was the six tender issued since 2023.
“The work order of demolition of the bridge from the pile cap bottom level, once awarded, has to be completed within six months. This time, four companies have shown interest and thus a decision will be taken this month,” a senior AMC official told The Indian Express.
The bridge was constructed during 2015-2017 by Ajay Engineering Pvt Ltd (AIEPL) with a defect liability of one year and was inaugurated in the year 2017. However, within three years, the first cracks developed on it in March 2021. Soon in 2022, it was closed for vehicular traffic after being found “unsafe” by lab tests conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee and after Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) Surat confirmed the “poor quality” of the bridge.
In April 2023, then AMC Commissioner M Thennarasan announced the decision to demolish the bridge. Following a report, AIEPL and Project Management Consultant (PMC) SGS India Pvt Limited were blacklisted. Also, four AMC officers were suspended and departmental enquiries were initiated against them. An FIR was also filed for criminal conspiracy and fraud.
Between 2023 and 2024, four tenders were issued by the same company to demolish and reconstruct the bridge.
Rajasthan-based Vishnu Prakash R Punglia Limited had also applied for another tender, a fourth one, in August 2024 worth Rs 51.7 crore, but the company was not awarded the project after it failed technical evaluation.
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“Even after the same company issued tenders four times for breaking and reconstruction (of the bridge), the AMC did not elicit the required response. The fourth time though, after modifications in the conditions, there were issues in the rates quoted and nobody took the risk (of repairing it),” a senior AMC official privy to the project told this paper.
It was also revealed that the company had submitted its bid of Rs 118 crore against the tender of Rs 51.7 crore, more than double the estimated cost.
The Leader of Opposition in the AMC, Shehzad Khan Pathan, has been repeatedly questioning the ruling BJP party over the “poor quality” of the bridge and now the indecision.
“It has been 1,000 days and still the ruling government has not been able to act. Neither the bridge has been demolished nor constructed despite AMC having such experts and engineers. If this is the condition of Ahmedabad, being a smart city, one can imagine the situation in villages,” Pathan told this paper.
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Sources also revealed that the original contractor AIEPL was keen to reassign the work.
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