Citing “intolerable” delays in laying tracks, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has terminated the contract given to Tata Projects for the construction of a 102-km-long last mile stretch of the Western dedicated freight corridor (DFC) from Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.
The cancellation of the contract will further push back the completion of the already-delayed Western DFC linking Dadri in Uttar Pradesh with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra by at least two years till 2026. DFCCIL had estimated the completion date of the project to be 2024. Also, as per tender conditions, Tata Projects and consortium partners will now be barred from future tenders of DFCCIL and other government entities for a period of two years.
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The DFCCIL in October this year rejected a loan request from Tata Project to complete the contract for the 102-km-long stretch of the 1,506-km long Western DFC project.
The Ministry of Railways-run DFCCIL awarded the contract for laying civil and track works between Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra and Makarpur near Vadodra in Gujarat to Express Freight Consortium, which was led by Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd and comprises state-run IRCON International Ltd and Tata Projects in 2016 and 2017. As part of the contract with the consortium, the 422-km-long stretch was divided between the partner companies, in which Tata Projects was supposed to complete the 134-km stretch from Makarpura to Sachin in Gujarat, IRCON International got the 186-km long section from Sachin in Gujarat to Vaitarana in Maharashtra and Tata Projects won the 102-km long stretch from the DFC from Vaitarana to JLN Port in Maharashtra.
IRCON and Tata Projects were to jointly work on the civil engineering work and lay out tracks. Mitsui & Co is the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for the entire 422-km section.
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DFCCIL has till date commissioned only half of the entire 1,506-km of Western DFC, and hopes to commission the remaining stretch upto Vaitarana by 2023. However, the most problematic stretch of the DFC— from Vaitarana to JLN Port—is now expected to be completed by 2026.
Tata Projects has sought a court stay on the termination order by the DFFCIL.
A spokesperson for Tata Projects Ltd had told Economic Times in October that the company has completed 39% of the work and the delay was due to land acquisition and site encroachment concerns.
