NEW DELHI: In a big embarrassment to the Tata Group over a game changing infrastructure project, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) has terminated a contract given to Tata Projects Ltd for constructing a crucial 102 km-long last mile stretch of the Western dedicated freight corridor from Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra, citing delays in laying the tracks.
“The contract given to Tata Projects for the Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port section has been terminated,” said a DFCCIL official.
The contract termination will delay the much-delayed completion of the 1,506 km-long Western DFC linking Dadri in Uttar Pradesh with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra by at least two years or till December 2026. Moreover, the scrapping of the contract will bar
Tata Projects Ltd and its consortium partners from participating in future tenders of DFCCIL or other government entities for two years, per tender conditions.
The Express Freight Consortium led by Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd and comprising State-owned IRCON International Ltd and Tata Projects was awarded contracts by DFCCIL for civil and track works between Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra and Makarpura near Vadodara in Gujarat, in 2016 and 2017.
The 422 km-long stretch was split into three packages – Tata Projects was given the contract for 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 end stretch of the DFC from Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra.
IRCON International and Tata Projects will jointly carry out civil engineering work and lay tracks, using high-quality Japanese-made rails.
Mitsui & Co is the Project Management Consultant (PMC) for the entire 422 km stretch.
Till date, DFCCIL has commissioned a little over half of the 1,506 km long Western dedicated freight line and is hoping to commission the stretch up to Vaitarana by December 2023.
But the Vaitarana to Jawaharlal Nehru Port section – the most troublesome part of the project – is now expected to be completed by 2026.
DFCCIL will have to retender the section or take a decision about doing the work on its own, the DFCCIL official mentioned earlier said, adding that the project will be delayed by at least two years due to the culling of the contract given to Tata Projects.
Tata Projects has approached the court seeking a stay on the termination which has not been granted so far.
