NHAI revives tender process for Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway; to award project under dbot annuity

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has revived the tender process to turn the existing Bengaluru-Mysuru highway (NH 275) into a six lane expressway, raising hopes among tens of thousands of people travelling between the two cities.
The NHAI is awarding the PPP project under the hybrid annuity model (DBOT annuity) and has floated request for proposal from private developers, giving them time till April 4 to respond. This is the second attempt by NHAI to put the much-delayed project back on track.
The NHAI has divided the project into two packages of 56.2km (Bengaluru-Nidagatta) and 61.1km (Nidagatta-Mysuru).The revised estimates show the 117km stretch project could cost Rs 4,153 crore, a drop by Rs 342 crore from earlier estimates. The land acquisition for the project is already completed.
The splitting of the contract, engineers say, will help the NHAI complete the project sooner as two developers will be able to start the work simultaneously from both north and south end of the long stretch. The contractors will require about 24 months to complete the project, and the NHAI may be able to commission in 2020.