Consortiums competing for award of underground Metro rail projects
Mumbai : Out of the nine consortia, which were in the fray for securing the contract to construct Mumbai’s first underground Metro rail route, seven have emerged as lowest bidders. So, even though the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation officials maintained that the evaluation process is still not over, the shares of companies, which were tipped to be the frontrunners, shot in the market.
The MMRC had invited tenders for the 33.5-km fully-underground Metro in seven contract packages, each involving about 4-5 km of tunneling and 3 to 5 underground stations. In all, the MMRC has received 31 bids from the nine consortia.
“We have opened the bids, but the financial evaluation is still on. So the process has not been concluded. Once all approvals are in place, we will definitely share the details,” Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director, MMRC, said.
Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, in partnership with Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co, is said to have emerged as the lowest bidder for two contract packages — a 3.5 km section from Cuffe Parade to CST and the 2.7 km Marol-SEEPZ section. A consortium comprising J. Kumar InfraProjects Ltd and China Railway No.3 Engineering Group is said to be the lowest bid for the 6.99 km section, which will pass through the business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex from Dharavi to the domestic airport. JKIL is also the lowest bidder for its adjoining section — from the domestic airport to Marol, which is a 3.5 km stretch. It will crisscross international airport Terminal 2.
