Govt allows E-bank guarantees for Highway, Ropeway contracts

02 Jun 2023 CW Team

The government has made revisions to the contracts for the construction of highways and ropeways, allowing bidders to provide electronic bank guarantees and surety bonds. According to an order from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, amendments have been approved for various clauses in the model concession agreements for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC), Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), and Build Operate Transfer (BOT) contracts.

Furthermore, the order states that in the case of existing contracts, such as road development, toll contracts, and ropeways, the requirement for a Bank Guarantee (BG) can be replaced with an Insurance Surety Bond.

However, if a BG is necessary as bid security or performance security and it is not feasible to provide an e-bank guarantee, the physical BG will continue to be accepted.

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