BharatNet PPP: Post objections on bid standards, DoT to subject revised tender

THE DEPARTMENT of Telecommunications (DoT) is more likely to quickly come out with a revised tender for the public-private partnership (PPP) implementation of BharatNet after gamers objected to a number of bid situations within the authentic bid paperwork, telecom ministry officers mentioned.
The potential bidders had, in whole, raised shut to three,000 queries and suggestions on the preliminary tender floated by the DoT whereas additionally objecting to sure phrases and situations. Over the subsequent two weeks, the DoT will subject the ultimate set of corrigenda notifying the adjustments within the tender to make the plan extra enticing, one of many officers mentioned.
“So, one of the issues raised by the companies was the condition of documentation of telecom assets of BharatNet already present on ground and the procedure to be followed. So there will be some changes to that. There will be other changes as well,” the official mentioned.
The PPP mannequin will initially be launched in Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier this yr in July, the Union Cabinet had accepted a plan to usher in the personal sector to finish the pending work on BharatNet, the Central authorities’s flagship scheme to offer web connectivity to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats within the nation.
As a part of the plan, underneath a PPP mode, the concessionaire will probably be chosen by means of a aggressive worldwide bidding course of and will probably be liable for creation, upgradation, operation, upkeep and utilisation of BharatNet. The revised technique will probably be adopted in 16 states for now. Its implementation underneath PPP mode is estimated to value Rs 29,432 crore, of which the federal government will spend Rs 19,041 crore as viability hole funding.

The Indian Express had in January 2020 reported that with the panchayat web connectivity scheme floundering on the final mile because of the failure of the implementation businesses, the DoT had been seeking to rope within the personal sector to finish the pending initiatives underneath Phase 1 and a couple of of BharatNet.
The PPP mannequin had then been advised by authorities think-tank NITI Aayog in addition to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology at a gathering within the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the then proposed mannequin, the personal sector could be invited to bid circle-wise for the BharatNet venture, with the choice of the bidder depending on their quote for viability hole funding.