Five companies in race to build underpass between university and main regional hospital in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh: Bidders found, a long-delayed underground highway crossing designed to protect thousands of university students and hospital visitors from one of this city’s most dangerous arterial roads has moved a step closer to construction.The Chandigarh administration’s engineering department received five bids to build the pedestrian pass under Madhya Marg, a high-traffic state highway connecting the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) with Panjab University (PU). Engineers have begun a technical evaluation of the contractors' financial stability and infrastructure experience before opening financial bids.First approved in principle by the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee and local govt in Nov 2019 following urgent traffic police warnings, the project has been stalled for over six years.Before ground breaking can begin, the administration must coordinate a complex relocation of subterranean utility infrastructure running beneath the highway. Officials recently met with the municipal corporation of Chandigarh and Chandigarh Power Distribution Limited to fast-track updated financial estimates for shifting water mains, sewers, storm drains, and electrical lines.The five firms competing for the contract are Gaaneshkartikey Construction, Krishna Construction, S P Singh Bedi and Sons, Neeraj Mohindra, and R K Constructions.