Dot To Float Rs 5,000 Cr Tenders For Equipment By March 31

The department of telecommunications (DoT) is set to issue 15 tenders for buying equipment worth Rs 5,000 crore in the last two months of this financial year which ends on March 31.

The department is seeking to push through the tenders to avoid lapsing of the funds earmarked for purchases in 1996-97, which would then go back into the Union government's consolidated fund.

The biggest tender is the one for poly-insulated jelly filled (PIJF) cables, used to build the local access network connecting subscribers to junction boxes or local exchanges. The 350 lakh circuit km (lckm)-tender is expected to cost Rs 3,500 crore. The last PIJF tender was floated in 1995 for 352 lckm.

The new PIJF cable tender, scheduled to be opened on March 7, will source 230 lckm for cash and the remaining 120 lckm on deferred payment.