India's Rs 1,600 Crore Gravitational Wave Lab In Maharashtra Hits Roadblock As Tender Remains Unawarded: Report

Nearly a year after the tender was floated, India's ambitious Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project in Maharashtra's Hingoli district remains stuck, with the Rs 1,600-crore construction contract yet to be awarded, The Indian Express reported.

RTI documents accessed by The Indian Express reveal that the tender, issued in April last year, has seen repeated deadline extensions on the Government eMarketplace portal.

The Department of Atomic Energy's Directorate of Construction Services and Estate Management, responding to the RTI query, stated that "the financial bid of tender opened on 23.01.2026" and that "the work has not been awarded yet."

On ground activity remains minimal, with the directorate confirming that "the site office has only been constructed so far."

Despite the delays, officials maintain the 2030 completion target remains intact. "In the present scenario, the project is set to be completed by its original deadline of 2030," the directorate stated.

A senior official connected to the project played down concerns over the timeline. "The tender process is progressing at the right pace. One must appreciate that the work order is against a tender worth Rs 1,600 crore. It is for a mega-science project, which India is undertaking for the first time ever," the official told The Indian Express, adding that the contract is expected to be awarded this year.

The Centre had sanctioned Rs 2,300 crore for LIGO-India back in April 2023, two years before the construction tender was even issued.

LIGO-India will operate in coordination with two existing American facilities that first recorded gravitational waves in 2015, confirming a prediction made a century earlier in Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.

The Indian observatory, featuring two four-kilometre-long laser arms, is expected to be technically more advanced than its US counterparts.

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