ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, Techno Consortium cited the lowest bid for the Sukkur-Hyderabad (M-6) expressway project.

The financial bid was made by the Techno-CMC-ACC consortium which obtained 98.43/100 points and another bidder ZKB which obtained 25.28/100 points.

According to sources, Techno Consortium consists of two local companies, Techno and ACC and an Italian construction company called Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti (CMC) di Ravenna, which was previously declared disqualified by an NHA evaluation committee. . The consortium is now likely to construct the Sukkur-Hyderabad expressway project on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

Only two bidders had submitted their proposals and expressed interest in the construction of the Sukkur-Hyderabad expressway project. However, a National Highway Authority (NHA) evaluation committee declared the consortium disqualified. The consortium then approached the GRC, which announced its decision on the technical qualification of the consortium on Thursday.

According to sources, the capital Viability Gap Fund (VGF) of Rs 143 billion and the operational VGF in the amount of Rs 49 billion to Rs 7 billion per annum for a period of 7 years have been authorized in the PC- I approved of project M-6.

According to sources, ZKB in its financial offer had quoted Rs37 billion as VGF capital during construction and Rs143 billion as operational VGF. Similarly, Techno Consortium had quoted Rs9.5 billion as VGF capital during construction while the consortium did not claim a single rupee as operational VGF which will lead to a direct saving of Rs170.5 billion for the National Treasury.

According to sources, the share of NHA as quoted by ZKB for a period of 22 years is Rs 139 billion with a net present value (NPV) of around Rs 25 billion while the cost of the project as quoted by ZKB stood at Rs 275 billion.

However, on the other hand, the Techno Consortium had quoted a share of Rs 407 billion for NHA for a period of 22 years with an NPV of Rs 73.58 billion. The total cost of the project in this case will be Rs307 billion.

The project is of national importance and will cost the government Rs 9.5 billion directly payable as VGF capital during construction, while the government will earn Rs 73.58 billion in terms of NHA share in present value.

NHA intends to undertake the construction of the 306 km Hyderabad-Sukkur (M-6) expressway on a BOT basis under a public-private partnership (PPP).

The project involves the construction of a 306 km six-lane controlled access toll road.

The concession period for the project is 25 years. Similarly, the private sector is likely to receive tolls and other ancillary development fees from the project to cover its life cycle costs and earn an adequate rate of return on investment.

In addition, the government is supporting the financial viability and bankability of the project through the provision of capital and operational Viability Gap (VGF) funding by pledging to provide a maximum of Rs 143 billion during the construction period and operational VGF payments spread over the first seven operational operations. year.