India says it is yet to pick the contractor in a tender where a Chinese company was the lowest bidder

Almost a week after the Chinese firm Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Company Ltd (STEC) became the lowest bidder for constructing the 5.6-km New Ashok Nagar-Sahibabad underground tunnel of the 82 km Delhi-Meerut RRTS project, the Union Ministry of Urban Development on Wednesday clarified that the tender is in "process" and "yet to be finalised".

The remarks from the ministry came in the wake of the tensions between India and China after the killing of 20 Indian soldiers by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in an unprecedented attack on Monday night in Ladakh's Galwan valley.

The Urban Development Ministry said that the 82-km long Regional Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) being undertaken by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) is an ADB funded project for design and construction of 5.6 km tunnel through TBM & 1 RRTS station.

It said that bids were invited on November 9 last year and the technical bid was opened on March 16 this year. The ministry further said that five companies submitted bids and qualified for financial bid opening including SKEC (Korea) and Tata, STEC, China, L&T, Afcons and Gulermakgir, Turkey.

It said that on June 12 financial bids were opened and STEC, China emerged as lowest bidder. "The tender is under process and yet to be finalised," it said, adding that the project is funded under Asian Development Bank (ADB)/World Bank/Multi-lateral procurement guidelines do not allow discrimination among firms/countries.

The NCRTC which is undertaking the construction work of the first RRTS at semi-high speed Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut 82 km corridor is supposed to have 5.6 km long tunnel between New Ashok Nagar in Delhi to Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh and an underground station at Anand Vihar.