Bekem Wins Belgaum – Raichur Expressway’s Packages 3 & 4 in Karnataka

Bekem Infra Projects – DHD Infracon JV on Tuesday was declared as the lowest bidder to construct packages 3 & 4 of the 273.4 km Belgaum – Hungund – Raichur Expressway (NH-748A) in northern Karnataka.

This new 4 lane access-controlled highway with paved shoulders by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) forms a part of the 593 km Hyderabad – Panaji (Goa) Economic Corridor EC-10 project. Construction will be carried out via 6 civil packages.

Its detailed project report (DPR) was prepared by Feedback Infrastructure – Prasuna Infra JV under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I program (Lot-5/Package-3) with a goal to improve the efficiency of freight movement and boost exports via port connectivity.

NHAI had invited tenders for constructing packages 3 & 4 under hybrid annuity model (HAM) in December 2023 with a 2 year deadline. Technical bids were opened in February 2024 to reveal 18 firms submitted bids for Package 3 and 14 firms submitted bids for Package 4.

Below I’ve shown only the lowest 5 bidders’ values for each package.

Package 3 (46.2 km)

Scope: KM 89.900 to KM 136.100

Estimated Cost: Rs. 976.52 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Bekem – DHD JV	848.88
MKC Infrastructure	861.00
VRC Constructions – R&C Infraengineers JV	876.86
CDS Infrastructure	904
Patel Infrastructure	910.34

Package 4 (46.2 km)

Scope: KM 136.100 to KM 182.300

Estimated Cost: Rs. 948.21 crore

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Bekem – DHD JV	789.38
VRC Constructions – R&C Infraengineers JV	849.97
MKC Infrastructure	896.96
Patel Infrastructure	921.85
CDS Infra	990

The lowest bids in each case were well below NHAI’s estimates, so I expect NHAI to award contracts by month-end without a long financial evaluation period.

Contracts for the project’s packages 5 & 6 near Raichur were awarded to GR Infraprojects in March 2023. Here’s the chainage and contract value:

• Package 5 (182.300 to 228.500) – Rs. 716.47 crore
• Package 6 (228.500 to 273.400) – Rs. 740.77 crore

For more updates, check out the Expressway section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG