Kathmandu, April 20

The Department of Railways (DoRW) is preparing to award the contract to carry out the feasibility study of the Kathmandu-Birgunj Electric Railway to a South Korean company called Soosung Engineering and Consulting Korea.

Soosung Engineering and Consulting Korea had placed the lowest bid to conduct the feasibility study of the aforementioned railway project. It placed a bid of Rs 60million to conduct the study, according to Prakash Bhakta Upadhyaya, spokesperson for DoRW.

The DoRW had shortlisted six international bidders and in January had asked them to submit their financial and technical proposals. “We analysed technical and financial proposals of all the bidders before selecting Soosung,” Upadhyaya informed.

“We will soon award the contract for the feasibility study of the Kathmandu-Birgunj railway project and the works regarding it will begin within two weeks,” stated Upadhyaya.

Among the six international bidders that were shortlisted by DoRW, the department selected the lowest bidder as per the provision of the Public Procurement Act. Moreover, as per the act, the bidders need to submit the technical and financial proposals separately, so that the technical proposal could be analysed before looking into the financial proposal. The DoRW had selected the six international companies for final competition out of a total of 10 bidders.

The six shortlisted companies were Cheil Engineering Korea; China Railway First Survey and Design Institute; Soosung Engineering and Consulting Korea; consortium of Yooshin Engineering Corporation and Korea Railroad Research Institute and Full Bright Consultancy; Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group and Tractebel Engineering; and China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group.

As per Upadhyaya, the feasibility study of the railway project will be completed within the next six months. He added that the consultant will submit the draft feasibility report within five months and DoRW will study and add some inputs if necessary and the feasibility report will be finalised a month after the draft report has been submitted.

Meanwhile, the DoRW has informed that the selected consultant must suggest a minimum of three railway routes for technical and financial options.

The government had planned to finalise the feasibility study of this project in the last fiscal year 2016-17. However, the delay in consultant selection process had affected its progress.

The railway will directly link the Capital with the major trading destination of the country. Likewise, it will boost connectivity between Kathmandu and Tarai. “Once the railway project is completed it will provide a cheaper, safer, faster and more environmentally friendly alternate route to people,” Upadhyaya stated.