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New Delhi: Government has cancelled tender for manufacturing of 44 sets of semi high speed train set (Vande Bharat Express).
This tender was floated on December 22, 2019, by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, and was opened on July 11, this year.
The Ministry of Railways stated here on Friday that fresh tender will be floated within a week as per “Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order.”
Sources said the decision to cancel the tender was taken after it was found that a Gurugram-based Chinese joint venture firm was among the six bidders. The firm’s contention had reportedly made the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) write to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to act against Chinese firms.
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Already speculations were rife over the prospects of government scrapping the tender after Chinese state-owned rolling stock major CRRC Corporation, which had entered into a joint venture with a Gurugram-based company to place its bid under the name CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited in 2015, bid for the Railways’ global tender for its ambitious semi-high speed train project. It was the only foreign player to bid for the tender for procuring propulsion systems or electric traction kits for 44 trains – branded as Vande Bharat Express or Train 18.
The trains were to be simultaneously manufactured in the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareilly and the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. The trains were expected to start running in the next two to three years.
Officials said going by the cost of manufacturing the first such Train 18 that was launched last year – Rs 100 crore, of which Rs 35 crore was for the propulsion system alone – the present tender for 44 such kits was worth over Rs 1,500 crore. (It may be recalled that the first Vande Bharat train to Varanasi was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2019, while another such train between New Delhi and Katra was flagged off by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on October 3, 2019).
The unit cost of the first rake was given as ₹1 billion (US$14 million), and at the original price, it is estimated to be 40 per cent cheaper than a similar train imported from European Makers.
Also read: CAIT expresses concern over increasing quantum of Chinese investments
It may be mentioned that CAIT of late has been expressing grave concern over increasing quantum of Chinese investments in Indian companies including start-ups and digital apps. On August 9, the traders body had even launched a campaign making it coincide with the anniversary of the Quit India Movement, and christened it as “China Quit India”. It had exhorted consumers across the country to boycott Chinese goods. Their protests against Chinese goods had taken place in 600 locations across the country.
– globalbihari bureau
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