Rapid rail project: Last year, the LoC was closed in Ladakh following tensions between the armies of the two countries.
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has resumed the contract to Chinese company for the Underground Stretch, which is going to be about 5 and a half kilometers between Ashok Nagar and Sahibad, for Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Project. The name of this Chinese company is Shandhai Tunnel Engineering Company, which had the lowest bid for the project. Last year, the LoC was closed in Ladakh following tensions between the armies of the two countries.
There was a huge controversy after the contract was awarded in June 2020. At that time, the opposition of China was in the air. Then the contract for the lowest bidder Chinese company Shanghai Tunnel Engineering was stopped due to tension on the border.
NCRTC statement
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) is responsible for designing India’s first regional rapid rail transit system. NCRTC says that the Chinese company has been given this contract under the rules.
NCRTC said in its statement, “The bidders include multilevel agencies and for this, approval has to be taken at many levels. The contract for this bid was also given as per the rules. Now the work of this Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut project will run faster and the working time But it will be done.”
ADB’s guidelines are screwed
The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS project is being funded by the Asian Development Bank and the work of this project is also being done on the guidelines of Asian Development. According to the ADB guidelines, companies from all member countries can participate in the bidding. Now since China is a member country of ADB, somehow India cannot exclude Chinese company from this project only on the basis that it is a Chinese company.
NCRTC had asked for bids for this project in November 2019. Then five companies had technically placed bids and then all the five bids were selected.