MoRTH relaxes rules to allow wider participation of domestic companies in road projects

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has revised the eligibility criteria for road projects built in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode to ensure wider participation from domestic companies. It has revised the average annual turnover of the bidder to 15 per cent of the estimated project cost for the past five years. Earlier, the average annual turnover was required to be 20 per cent of the estimated project cost. Among other changes, the MoRTH has also relaxed the threshold technical capacity for normal highway projects, which will be 0.75 times the estimated project cost in the case of projects up to Rs 1 billion, while it is equal to the estimated project cost in the case of projects more than Rs 1 billion. For specialised projects, the threshold technical capacity has been revised to equal the estimated project cost or Rs 10 billion, whichever is lower, for projects of more than Rs 10 billion. Further, no additional qualification will be required for bridges up to 60 metres long and tunnels up to 200 metres long, being built in the EPC mode, besides the bidder having constructed one similar work of 20 per cent of the estimated project cost. The ministry has also brought down the size of eligible projects for ascertaining technical experience from 10 per cent to 5 per cent of the project cost.