Centre-Andhra Pradesh government joint venture to issue EPC contract tender for Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: The joint venture formed between the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government for the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor will issue tenders to select the EPC contractor for the project, Union minister Piyush Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Goyal was replying to a question of Congress member Anil Kumar Mandadi on timelines for the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC) to become operational and the status of selection of EPC contractor for the project.

The minister, while directing his comments towards the Opposition, said the project was announced in 2007 and nothing was done on it till 2014 and some announcements were made before the elections in 2014.

"Actual status is that the corridor was approved in 2020. The actual load of the corridor was announced on August 28 this year. Our joint venture with Andhra Pradesh government will do the tendering for EPC contractors.

"We do everything with transparency and no half work like distribution of coal mines, distributing EPC contracts. That is not our style. The AP government will select an EPC contractor with transparency. There will be tendering and work will be done on that," Goyal said.

The minister's mention of coal mines and tender distribution led to protests from the Opposition members in the last minute of the question hour.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar immediately started zero hour amid the protests but the House was immediately adjourned for the lunch break.