The government has cancelled the contract for the Rs.10,050 crore ($1.5 billion) Zojila Pass Tunnel Building Project, India’s most expensive and biggest national highway (NH)project, after Opposition parties alleged irregularities in bidding.
Mumbai-based IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRB Infra) emerged as the sole bidder for the project which would have provided crucial all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir and Leh–Ladakh.
“The company has received a communication from Ministry of Road Transport & Highways that they have decided to cancel the bid process for the project and cancelled the said LoA without assigning any reason,” an IRB statement said. IRB Infra won the contract in January to build a tunnel for a distance of 14.08 km in Jammu and Kashmir after it emerged as the sole bidder.
After cancellation of this order, IRB’s order book size will decline to about Rs.6,500 crore.
