Mumbai: L&T, IRCON, Among Lowest Bidders For 96.4 km Phase-1 Of Virar-Alibaug Multi-Model Corridor Project

Mumbai: Seven engineering majors, including L&T, IRCON International and J Kumar Infraprojects, have been declared as the lowest bidders for 11 construction contracts of the 96.47-km-long Phase 1 of the 126-km Virar-Alibag Multimodal Corridor (VAMC). The bids were opened on Tuesday by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) which is executing the project.

VAMC will be developed as an eight to 14 lane access-controlled highway and Phase 1 will connect Navghar-Balavali through three districts of Raigad, Thane and Palghar. The construction of this phase will be carried out under 11 packages.

The other winners include Navayuga Engineering Company (NECL), Oriental Structural Engineers (OSE), Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (MEIL) and Welspun Enterprises (WEL). "Some of these companies have won multiple bids and the packages will be given to them accordingly," a senior MSRDC official said not wishing to be named.

"The expressway has been designed for the speed of 120 kmph. We will require 1,347 Ha of land for the greenfield expressway, the acquisition of which is currently underway. MSRDC will spend Rs 22,000 Crore to acquire the land,” the official said and added that MSRDC has received environmental clearance for the 18-km stretch between Chirner and Balvali, the process to get the clearance for remaining stretch is in final stages.

"Approximately 5,000 trees are likely to be cut for the project whike 221 Ha of forest land is to be diverted for the project," the official added. MSRDC invited requests for qualification applications for construction in April 2023 and opened bids in June 2023 to reveal 28 firms had submitted applications. In all, 18 firms qualified for the request for proposal round in December 2023. MSRDC then invited price bids from these 18 firms in January 2024 with a construction deadline of 900 days.

This greenfield expressway was originally planned in 2011 by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), but in September 2020 a deal was signed to hand over the construction to MSRDC.