Tata Projects Ltd has emerged as lowest bidder for the project to construct and maintain the new Parliament building for five years.
After the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) opened financial bids, on Wednesday, Tata Projects Ltd quoted a bid worth Rs 861.90 crore, while Larsen and Toubro Ltd quoted Rs 865 crore. The bid document estimated the cost of the project at roughly Rs 889 crore. Work on the building is likely to begin after the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament comes to an end.
According to the CPWD, three bidders had qualified in the technical round but only two firms ended up submitting their financial bids. Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited was the third firms which qualified for financial bids for this project.
“The contract is likely to be awarded to the lowest bidder. In infrastructure projects the firm is finalised only after getting the letter of award for the project,” the officials added.
The proposed work is of very prestigious nature and is required to be completed within the prescribed 21 months with the highest standards of quality and workmanship, the bid document said.
CPWD had invited bids in a two-bid system to construct the triangular shaped building on a built-up area of around 60,000 square metre on plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate, adjacent to the current Parliament building. The current parliament building, built during the British era, is circular and is one of India’s most acclaimed monuments. Seven companies evinced interest in the construction of the new Parliament building as part of the ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project. Of them, Mumbai-based construction and civil engineering company ITD Cementation India Limited, Hyderabad-headquartered NCC Limited, PSP Projects Limited of Ahmedabad, and Uttar Pradesh State Government’s UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited were disqualified for financial bids.
The new Parliament complex will be among the first projects to be finalised and tendered out as part of the Central Vista redevelopment, which includes plans to turn North and South Block, situated opposite each other on Raisina Hill and which house top Central Government Ministries, into a museum and the construction of new administrative offices with an underground metro. As per the new plan, the national emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, a fine sculpture that dates back to around 250 BC at the time of Emperor Ashoka’s reign, and which depicts four lions, each facing the four directions, placed atop the Ashoka pillar is likely to be atop the new Parliament building.
