Bengaluru tunnel road: Adani lowest bidder; Congress caught in dilemma

The Congress-led government in Karnataka has found itself in an awkward position after the Adani Group emerged as the lowest bidder in the tender floated for Bengaluru’s ambitious twin tunnel road project, conceived as a long-term solution to the city’s chronic traffic congestion.

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For leaders of the grand old party who have routinely criticised Gautam Adani in tandem with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the question now is whether or not to award the tunnel road project to a company owned by Gautam Adani. The irony is hard to miss: Karnataka, ruled by the Congress, is also the state where the Adani Group has made some of its largest investments across sectors and plays a significant role in the state’s economy. This has left the government in a bind while considering the bids.

Is considering the bid mandatory?

Merely because the Adani Group has submitted the lowest bid (L1 bidder – the company that quotes the lowest price), awarding the contract is not mandatory. The Supreme Court has laid down clear principles in landmark judgments such as Tata Cellular vs Union of India (1994) and Jagdish Mandal vs State of Odisha (2007). The court has held that in tender processes, the government has the discretion to decide on awarding contracts in accordance with the tender conditions, and that courts should not ordinarily interfere in such matters.

Therefore, the government is under no compulsion to award the contract simply because the Adani Group has quoted the lowest price, senior journalist K Giri Prakash told The Federal Karnataka.

While the Adani Group has a presence in solar power, renewable energy, infrastructure and port development, it is difficult to claim that it has direct experience in this specific sector. This is because the group, despite owning many companies, has largely grown by acquiring existing firms rather than building them from the ground up. As a result, its core expertise in tunnel road construction cannot be clearly established. There are also no known examples of the Adani Group having executed tunnel road projects so far, he added.

Adani’s investments highest in Karnataka

Companies owned by Gautam Adani have already invested more than Rs 20,000 crore in Karnataka. The group has announced plans to invest Rs 1 lakh crore over seven years, from 2022 to 2029.

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The Adani Group has invested in Karnataka across renewable energy, cement, airports, port development projects, city gas distribution, edible oil (Adani Wilmar), transportation and logistics.

Adani, which owns the Udupi thermal power plant, is currently generating 1,200 MW of electricity and is investing Rs 11,500 crore to add another 1,600 MW in the coming years.

Adani Airports has taken up the modernisation and expansion of Mangaluru International Airport. Adani Wilmar has also set up a food processing unit. Across four cement plants in the state, including ACC, the group has an annual production capacity of over 7 million tonnes.

The group is engaged in renewable energy generation through solar and wind power plants with a combined capacity of around 1,100 MW at 21 locations across the state. Under ‘Paramapoojya’ Solar and Adani Green Energy, 350 MW of power is being generated at Pavagada.

CNG stations have been established at 11 key locations in the state, along with the installation of 50 km of pipelines. At the Global Investors Meet held in February 2025 as well, the Adani Group reiterated its commitment to invest in Karnataka.

“Since the Adani Group has submitted the lowest bid for the Bengaluru tunnel road project, the government may be compelled to award the contract. When it comes to making money, Congress and the BJP are no different. The BJP, which had opposed the tunnel road project all along, has gone silent now that it knows the contract may go to the Adani Group. Congress’s opposition to Adani is merely theatrical. This project is proof of the nexus between corrupt politicians and big capital,” KRS party founder Ravikrishna Reddy told The Federal Karnataka.

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With the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, the Adani Group has expanded rapidly across sectors, he alleged, adding that Adani has grown to a level where he rivals Ambani.

According to him, Gautam Adani now wields influence over all political parties, and there is rarely any disagreement among them when it comes to large projects — differences arise only over the distribution of money. He pointed out that the Adani Group is executing major projects even in Congress-ruled states such as Telangana, and remarked sarcastically that if the Congress had any real integrity, it would not award such projects. Since the Congress too benefits from Adani, it does not genuinely oppose him, he claimed.

A minister in the state government, who did not wish to be named, told The Federal Karnataka, “Politics is one thing, development is another. It is not illegal for industrialists to participate in project tenders.” He added that the repeated criticism of Gautam Adani by Congress leaders at the national level — particularly by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi — has contributed to the present confusion.

A Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office-bearer, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “The Adani issue has become a source of confusion in one sense. But since he is a capable industrialist who has submitted the lowest bid, there is no legal basis to reject it outright. This has truly become a kind of litmus test for the Congress.”

Strong presence in cement manufacturing

The Adani Group is also expanding its footprint in the cement sector. It has acquired the Jaypee Associates cement plant at Shahabad in Kalaburagi district, along with ACC and Ambuja Cements. On September 1, 2006, ACC Cement Company was renamed Adani Cement.

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ACC cement plants in Karnataka are located at Wadi in Belagavi district and at Tondebhavi village in Gauribidanur taluk of Chikkaballapur district. At the end of 2024, the group also acquired Orient Cement at Chittapur in Kalaburagi.

Bid amount higher than estimated cost

The Adani Group has submitted the lowest bids for both packages of the Bengaluru tunnel road project. However, since the quoted amount is 24 to 28 per cent higher than the government’s estimated cost, the process of finalising the contract is likely to be delayed. The Cabinet will have to decide on the cost escalation.

The tender was floated by Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited, which is responsible for the construction of the 16.57-km-long tunnel road from Esteem Mall at Hebbal to Silk Board.

Apart from the Adani Group, Dilip Buildcon, Vishva Samudra Engineering and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited had also submitted bids. However, sources said that Vishva Samudra Engineering and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited were disqualified as they failed to meet a condition requiring that roads or bridges built by them in recent years should not have collapsed.

Investment commitments in Karnataka

At the ‘Invest Karnataka – Global Investors Meet’ held in 2022, and again at the Global Investors Meet (GIM) in February 2025, the Adani Group announced its commitment to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in Karnataka.

Karnataka offers an industry-friendly investment climate and has emerged as an important hub in global business. For these reasons, the group is investing in cement, power, city gas, oil, transportation, logistics and the digital sector in the state, said Karan Adani, CEO of the Adani Group and son of Gautam Adani.

What are future plans?

Preparations are underway to operationalise the Malur Inland Container Depot by the end of this year, with a focus on strengthening logistics and cargo handling. Under the Adani-Karnataka Solar PV Park project, a 190 MW solar power project with an estimated investment of $132.62 million is being implemented.

A 300 MW wind power project is also underway in Koppal, which is likely to become operational by the end of this year. The Adani Group is also expanding its investments in power storage technology and battery manufacturing, a senior official from the industries department told The Federal Karnataka.

The Adani Group has already made Karnataka its preferred investment destination and has emerged as a key partner in the state’s long-term industrial growth, the official added.

(This article was originally published in The Federal Karnataka)