ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has approved the technical bids for two mega projects, Serena and PTCL chowk interchanges, paving the way for financial bids next week to award the contracts. Sources said that out of three firms, one had been disqualified. The projects are likely to cost Rs8 billion and the civic agency will finance them through its funds. The CDA had opened technical bids for the “top priority” projects on August 12 after introducing strict criteria. At the time, the civic body said it wanted to start these projects at the earliest to complete them in the shortest possible time. In response to tenders that contained unprecedentedly tough criteria, only three construction firms, Maaksons, Habib Construction Company, and a joint venture of Maqbool and Colson submitted their bids. According to sources, Maqbool and Colson was disqualified because it could not meet the criteria during the evaluation of the technical bids. One firm fails to meet criteria, two left in the race for Serena, PTCL chowk projects It is the same joint venture that got contracts for the Rawal Dam interchange, Korang Bridge and the PWD underpass in 2020, but failed to complete them on time. It subsequently left the work halfway after the contracts were terminated. The remaining work was completed by the army-run Frontier Works Organisation. With two firms in the race, the financial bids will likely be opened next week after CDA Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa approved the recommendations of the bid evaluation committee and on Wednesday directed the engineering wing of the CDA to open financial bids for the remaining two companies. Ironically, the CDA took around two months to approve the technical bids received on August 12 for its “top priority projects”. The CDA had introduced stringent criteria in these bids to discourage those contractors that had no record of completing such mega projects in a short period of time. But, the CDA itself wasted 50 days in the approval of the technical bids. Recently, the CDA approved PC-I for two mega projects worth over Rs8 billion. Underpasses on Srinagar Highway and Khayaban-i-Suharwardi as well as three loops will cost Rs4.56 billion, whereas the construction of an underpass and flyover at the junction of Jinnah Avenue and 9th Avenue near F-8 (PTCL Chowk) will cost Rs3.9 billion. Both projects, according to the PC-I, will be completed in six months. It is relevant to note that these two sites are sources of constant traffic jams, particularly during rush hours. The CDA has been making announcements for several years to resolve this problem but the current management a few months ago decided to start these two projects. The Serena Interchange project was set to begin last year but at the eleventh hour, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif (during the PDM government) refused to inaugurate it. He had sought the credentials of Railcop, which had won the project because of its lowest bid of Rs2.1 billion. Now, the PC-I of the new project is worth Rs4.5 billion along with a new design and additional works. The officials said that the civic agency had allocated funds for these two projects in the budget for this fiscal year and would execute these projects through its funding.