The contract awarded to M/s Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication Group Co. Ltd will be terminated by DFCCIL.
Boycott China goods? Indian Railways shows Chinese firm the door! As tensions run high between India and China, India has initiated the first set of actions against Chinese businesses in the country, according to an IE report. The contract awarded to M/s Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication Group Co. Ltd will be terminated by DFCCIL. In the year 2016, CRSC (China Railway Signal and Communication (CRSC) Corporation) had won the contract to install signalling systems in over 400 km of rail lines on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.
The document accessed by Financial Express Online states that only 20% progress was made in the project despite the work being awarded 4 years ago. The following reasons have been cited in the document by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited for termination of the contract:
- Reluctance to furnish technical documents such as the logic design of electronic interlocking
- Non-availability of company’s engineers and authorised personnel on the site
- Lack of progress in physical work due to no tie-ups with local agencies
- Material procurement not done earnestly
No improvement in the progress of work despite repeated meetings at all possible levels
According to officials quoted in the IE report, this is the only Chinese presence in the mega Indian Railways project, which is now eyeing to engage players from India. The contract, worth around Rs 500 crore involved designing, constructing, testing, supplying, telecommunications, commissioning signalling as well as associated works for two lines of 413 km in UP’s New Bhaupur-Mughalsarai section. The sources quoted in the report said that to initiate the process, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited has applied to the World Bank, which is the funding agency.
According to sources quoted in the report, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also asked the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) not to use Chinese-made equipment in the upgradation of its 4G facilities. Now, the entire tender will be reworked, they said.
According to an official, DoT was considering telling private mobile service providers to reduce their dependence on equipment that are made in China. The security and safety of networks developed with Chinese equipment in the present situation will be under scrutiny. The patterns of ownership of ZTE and Huawei could become a sticking point in the network upgradation plans of India.
