Nagpur – Gondia Expressway: Afcons & NCC Win Contracts

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. and NCC Ltd. on Tuesday were declared as the lowest bidders to construct 4 packages of the 127 km Nagpur – Bhandara – Gondia Expressway project after financial bids were opened.

Nagpur – Gondia Expressway in eastern Maharashtra will be developed as a 4 lane access-controlled highway on the EPC mode by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). It will have its western terminal at Gavasi village on Nagpur’s Outer Ring Road, roughly 7 km from eastern terminal of the 701 km Mumbai – Nagpur Expressway (Samruddhi Mahamarg or ME-2).

On the east-side, Nagpur – Gondia Expressway will terminate at village Sawari, located north of Gondia, while a 13.745 km bypass will be constructed around the south-western side of Gondia (note: this bypass is not shown in the map below). Besides Gondia Bypass, a 3.826 km spur will link to the town of Tiroda which hosts MIDC’s Growth Centre.

The expressway has been designed with a 100 meter right-of-way (ROW) and a 120 kmph speed limit. It will be constructed under 4 packages: NG-01, NG-02, NG-03 and NG-04.

MSRDC had applied for Environmental Clearance in October 2023 and invited bids for civil construction in February 2024 with a 2.5 year construction deadline. Bids were opened in early May to reveal 8 firms had submitted a total of 20 bids.

Financial Bid Values

Here are the financial bid values for each package. Afcons won packages NC-01 and NC-02 on the Nagpur side, while NCC scooped up packages NC-03 and NC-04 on the Gondia side.

Package NG-01

• Length: 29.40 km
• Chainage: km 0+000 Gavasi Tq. Nagpur (Rural) to km 29+400 Chanoda Tq. Kuhi Dist. Nagpur
• Estimated Cost: Rs. 1821.74 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Afcons	2599
Montecarlo	2665
GR Infra	2686.07
NCC	2710

Package NG-02

• Length: 29.450 km
• Chainage: km 29+400 Chanoda Tq. Kuhi Dist. Nagpur to km 58+850 Thana Tq. Dist. Bhandara
• Estimated Cost: Rs. 1928.45 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Afcons	2849
PNC	2885
APCO	2919
GR Infra	2950.07
NCC	2986

Package NG-03

• Length: 31.226 km
• Chainage: km 94+100 Manora to km 121+500 Sonegaon Tq. Tiroda Dist. Gondia (Length: 27.400 km) with Tiroda connector km 0+000 Paldongari to km 3+826 Kachewani Tq. Tiroda Dist. Gondia (Length- 3.826 km)
• Estimated Cost: Rs. 1964.40 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
NCC	2744
APCO	2825
PNC	2846
Afcons	2900
Oriental	2932

Package NC-04

• Length: 37.052
• Chainage: km 121+500 Sonegaon Tq. Tiroda to km 144+807 Sawari Tq. Dist. Gondia (Length: 23.307 km) with Gondia Bypass km 0+000 Lohari to km 13+745 Karanja Tq. Dist. Gondia (Length- 13.745 km)
• Estimated Cost: Rs. 1771.99 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
NCC	2554
PNC	2600
Montecarlo	2636
Oriental	2647
Patel Infra	2675
Afcons Infra	2676

The lowest bid for each package’s construction was significantly higher than MSRDC’s estimate, so we’ve reached a deadlock which can take months to resolve. For instance – in Package NG-01, Afcons’ bid was 42.72% higher than MSRDC’s estimate. Similarly in Package NG-03, NCC’s bid was 39.71% higher.

It’s the same story for all other packages. There just isn’t any room for negotiations without altering scope or quality. It remains to be seen if MSRDC will bite the bullet (by revising their budget) and award contracts to get work started OR will scrap the entire process and re-invite bids.

Nagpur – Gondia Expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between both cities to about 2 hours from the current 4-5 hour journey. Maharashtra’s government plans to develop an impressive 5000 km expressway network in the state. Nagpur – Gondia Expressway is displayed by number 2 below:

MSRDC on Tuesday also opened bids for 5 other expressway projects – and things don’t look too bright for them either. Check out each link below for a list of winners:

• 136.80 km Pune Ring Road
• 126 km Virar – Alibaug Multi-Modal Corridor (VAMMC) around Mumbai
• 179.85 km Jalna – Nanded Expressway
• 182 km Nagpur – Chandrapur Expressway
• 156 km Bhandara – Gachiroli Expressway’s Package BG-01

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– TMRG