According to the local press, Kerala Road Fund board (KRFB), a company owned by the government of the state of Kerala (India), have received pre-qualification bids from four companies for the Kozhikode city road improvement PPP project (phase IA).

Names of the bidders have not been revealed.

N. Sudarsanan Pillai, KRBF general manager, stated:

The consultancy (advisor to the government) will look into various aspects such the background of a company on physical achievements, financial capability, funding capacity, and technical team. The process will be completed in a month.

The scope of the project includes rehabilitation, upgrade and widening of the existing carriageway to two/four lane standards with construction of news pavement, rehabilitation of existing pavement, construction and rehabilitation of major and minor bridges, culverts,, road intersections, interchanges, drains, etc and operation and maintenance thereof. The 22.25km PPP road project involves the development of 6 Stretches:

• Stadium - Puthiyara which has an overall length of 0.644km,
• Karaparamba - Eranhipalam & Arayadathupalam - Kalluthankadavu (portion of mini bypass) which has an overall length of 4.526km,
• Vellimaduukunnu - Kovoor which has an overall length of 2.735km,
• Gandhi Road - Mini Bypass and Kuniyilkavu - Mavoor Road Junction which has an overall length of 3.435km,
• Panathuthazham - CWRDM which has an overall length of 8.459km and
• Pushpa Junction to Mankavu Junction which has an overall length of 2.452km.

The project will be developed on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. The project also involves the maintenance of the roads for a period of 15 years.

The total project investment is estimated at Rs1800 million (US$30 million).

SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. was appointed as the transaction advisor by KRFB for the development of the PPP project.