By Apurva Bhatt
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has received in all 31 bids from national and international companies to construct the 33.5-km long underground Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3 corridor. Bids from nine consortiums have been received for the 7 packages. Each package comprises of 4-5 km long twin tunnel.
There are four bidders each for the first four packages and there are five, seven and three bidders for the next three packages respectively. The project envisages a total investment of Rs 23,136 crore of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding nearly 56% of it, worth Rs 13,235 crore.
The consortiums that filed the 31 bids are – M/s. AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd./Kyivmetrobud, M/s. Continental Engineering Corporation/ITD Cementation India Ltd/Tata Projects Ltd, M/s. DOGUS/SOMA, M/s. IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd/China Railway 25th Bureau Group Co.Ltd, M/s. J.Kumar Infraprojects Ltd/China Railway No.3 Engineering Group Co.Ltd, M/s. Larsen & Toubro Ltd/Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd, M/s. OSJC Moscow Metrostroy/Hindustan Construction Co.Ltd, M/s. Pratibha Industries Ltd/Guandong Yuantian Engineering Co and M/s. Unity Infraprojects Ltd/IVRCL Ltd/China Railway Tunnel Group Co. Ltd.
The project is already entangled in a string of controversies, mainly ranging over environmental concerns over its impact on Mumbai’s green cover and the fears of people who will be displaced, including slum dwellers and the other residents of a predominantly Marathi area.
“The response shown is very encouraging”, said Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director, MMRC. “The response also indicates the kind of confidence bidders have in the government and its agency. The Metro-3 corridor will certainly reduce the congestion in the suburban railway and avoid unfortunate loss of life due to congestion. It is high time we respected human life”, said Ms.Bhide further.
