Mumbai: MMRDA Scraps Thane-Bhayander Tunnel Project Tender; Supreme Court Cites ‘Larger Public Interest'

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) informed the apex court on Friday that it has scrapped the tenders issued for the Rs 6,000-crore Thane-Ghodbunder-Bhayandar tunnel and the elevated road projects.

The decision came after prodding from the Supreme Court regarding the necessity of transparency in large public projects. The court had also asked the authority whether it was willing to carry out a re-tendering process for the two major projects in the financial capital and warned that failure to do so might lead to a stay on the current tenders.

On Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the State government and MMRDA, informed the Supreme Court that they had decided to scrap the tenders.

“We are scrapping the tender,” Rohatgi told a bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih.

The bench noted in its order: “It is fairly stated that the entire tender process is scrapped in larger public interest. Thus, the plea is disposed of as infructuous.”

The apex court was hearing petitions filed by L&T challenging the Bombay High Court’s May 20 order, which upheld MMRDA’s position that the reasons for rejecting technical bids need not be communicated to companies before awarding the projects.

L&T had earlier approached the High Court against MMRDA’s refusal to disclose the status of its bid for the two major infrastructure works. The company claimed it was never informed of its disqualification after submitting its technical and financial bids on December 30, 2024. It only learned about the disqualification during proceedings before the Bombay High Court, which had dismissed its plea.

On Friday, after MMRDA informed the court that it was scrapping the tenders, L&T’s counsel Abhishek Singhvi urged the apex court to quash the High Court’s observations, which stated that the company had suppressed material information in its petition.

However, the Supreme Court said there was no need to pass any order in that regard. It then disposed of L&T’s petitions as being infructuous.

The two projects will link Thane with Mira-Bhayandar and are part of an extension of the Mumbai Coastal Road project.

The first project is a 5-km twin tunnel of 14.6-metre diameter, connecting Gaimukh near the mouth of Vasai Creek in Mira-Bhayandar to the Fountain Hotel junction at Shilphata in Thane. The project cost is estimated at Rs 8,000 crore.

The second project, a 9.8-km elevated creek road bridge, will connect Bhayandar with Ghodbunder Road in Thane. The cost of this project is estimated at Rs 6,000 crore.

The elevated bridge is likely to be second in length only to the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) bridge, also called Atal Setu, which, at almost 22 km, is both the longest bridge and the longest sea bridge in India.

The MMRDA had initially opposed the plea, stating that L&T’s disqualification was “not on flimsy or fanciful grounds.”

The Supreme Court had raised serious questions over the lack of transparency in the mega projects, observing that Rs 3,100 crore of public money was “not a small amount.”