Seven companies have been selected in the technical evaluation for the operation of the Nagdhunga-Sisnekhola tunnel. The project has stated that the evaluation of the financial proposal will begin on Chaitra 1. Out of the 10 companies participating in the procurement process to operate the tunnel, seven have been successful, said Saujanya Nepal, director of the Nagdhunga Tunnel Construction Project.

‘Seven companies were shortlisted on 15th Falgun,’ Nepal said, ‘Now the notice of intention to open the financial proposals of only the shortlisted companies has been published publicly.’ He said that the financial proposals will be opened on 1st Chait and a decision will be made within a maximum of 10 days. The project has stated that one company will be selected from the financial proposals and an agreement will be signed for the operation of the tunnel within Chait. 

‘If the company selected from the competition mobilizes its manpower quickly, training will be conducted accordingly,’ Nepal said. The project is preparing to operate the tunnel, even if it is on a trial basis, by Baisakh. Considering the daily traffic jams in Nagdhunga Ukalo, the government had envisioned the construction of either tunnel. 

The issue of operating the tunnel will not depend solely on the Project Office and the Road Department. The project source said that the tunnel will be operated accordingly as the new government formed after the election will be interested in it. 98 percent of the tunnel work has been completed. At present, all work except landslide management and construction of toll plazas towards Dhading has been completed. The project claims that the remaining work is also in the completion stage. 

Six Chinese, three Indian and one Turkish companies participated in the competition to operate the tunnel. Currently, six Chinese and one Indian companies are in a joint venture (JV) with a Nepali company on the 'shortlist'. Although the Japanese government has taken a stand that companies owned by the Chinese government and those on the blacklist should not be selected, the final competition for service providers is now dominated by Chinese companies. 

The companies that passed the technical evaluation are Kasthamandap-Gansu Hengtong JV, SXRB-Bright Bull JV. Similarly, JTCG-Danfe JV, China First Highway Engineering-Parallel JV, Yusin-ART JV and Vedanshi-Ranken JV. All these Chinese companies have submitted bids for the JV with Nepali companies. EMSL-PSCPL JV is an Indian company. 

The delay in operating the tunnel has been due to the failure to select a service provider on time. The project had first invited bids on October 16 to select a service provider through an international bid for the operation of the tunnel. Accordingly, the deadline for submitting bids was until December 2. However, the deadline was extended for the first time until December 16 as per the demands of international construction companies and Nepali construction entrepreneurs. 

During this period, the construction entrepreneurs demanded clarification on some points of the provisions set by the project, so the time was extended to December 30. 150 manpower will be mobilized for tunnel operation. Two months of training time have been allocated for that. The selected service provider will manage the employees deployed for tunnel operation. The participating manpower will be shown by operating the tunnel as a test. 

The project stated that since it is an international bid, a foreign company has been made a mandatory joint venture with the Nepali company. Such a provision will prepare Nepali technicians to operate the tunnel and later it will be easy for Nepalis to operate the tunnel themselves. The selected service provider will have to manage and operate the tunnel for five years.

The tunnel will have to be repaired, traffic management, emergency rescue, toll collection, maintenance of the entire tunnel and the 2.8-kilometer access road connecting Kathmandu and Dhading for five years. The service provider will have to operate and manage the tunnel for 365 days a year. The cost of operation will be borne by the government and the selected service provider will have to deposit the toll amount collected into the Road Board Nepal account every day. The Road Board Nepal will monitor this.