Ahluwalia Wins Darbhanga Airport’s New Terminal Contract

Right after winning Varanasi Airport’s contract on Tuesday, Ahluwalia Contracts (India) on Wednesday was also declared as the lowest bidder for the civil construction work of a new terminal building at Darbhanga Airport in Bihar.

Designed by SGA Design Lab, Darbhanga Airport’s new terminal building by Airports Authority of India (AAI) will include a basement, ground floor, and 2 upper floors. The terminal with a built-up area of 59,222 sq. m. and 5 aerobridges will enable the airport to handle a traffic demand of 3 million passengers per annum (mppa).

52.48 acres of land was acquired for the project by the Bihar Government in 2023. AAI had invited tenders for the terminal’s civil construction contract in November 2023 with a Rs. 631.71 crore estimate and 2 year completion deadline.

Technical bids were opened earlier this month to reveal 6 bidders. Among those, the bid submitted by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) was found technically non-compliant to the tender conditions and subsequently disqualified.

Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd.	572.00
Girdhari Lal Constructions Pvt. Ltd.	584.00
ITD Cementation India Ltd.	587.22
Ramacivil India Construction Pvt. Ltd.	589.48
NCC Ltd.	624.88

AAI’s Brief Scope: Development of New Civil Enclave at Darbhanga Airport. SH – Construction of New Terminal Building, Allied Structure and External Development works on Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Model.

Ahluwalia’s bid of Rs. 572 crore was well below AAI’s Rs. 631.71 crore estimate, so a contract should be awarded in the coming weeks without a long financial bid evaluation period.

With this development, I expect basic ground work to start in Q2 (April – June) 2024 and full-fledged construction work in Q3 (July – Sept) 2024.

As shared in the past, here’s the masterplan schematic and some design renderings via AAI’s tender documents:

For more updates, check out the Airports section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? See how you can get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG