MMRCL Awards Contracts for Mumbai Metro’s Line 3

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (MMRCL) has finally issued the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) to all 5 consortia that 9 months ago had emerged as the lowest bidders for constructing 7 packages of Mumbai’s 33.5 km underground Colaba-SEEPZ metro line! This feat was accomplished after tiring rounds of negotiations & scope changes to bring the contracts’ value down which were cumulatively 50% higher than what RITES had estimated while preparing the line’s Detailed Project Report in 2011.

In March, the MMRC had received clearance from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to begin price negotiations with the lowest bidders through design changes that included reducing the number of entry/exits at certain stations, reducing the length of the platforms and hiving off critical functions like the installation of the Tunnel Ventilation System (TVS) and escalators into separate contracts of their own. This move allayed fears of a re-tendering exercise that would have further delayed the project.

Mumbai Metro’s Line 3
– view Mumbai Metro map and info

Contractor Info

•  Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-01 – Cuffe Parade – CST
Tunnels & 4 stations at Cuffe Parade, Vidhan Bhavan, Churchgate & Hutatama Chowk
Contractor: Larsen & Toubro Ltd – Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd

•  Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-02 – CST – Mumbai Central
Tunnels and 4 stations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalbadevi, Girgaon & Grant Road
Contractor: OJSC Moscow Metrostroy – Hindustan Construction Co.Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-03 – Mumbai Central – Siddhivinayak
Tunnels and 5 stations at Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Science Museum, Acharya Atre Chowk & Worli
Contractor: DOGUS – SOMA Enterprise Ltd.

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-04  – Siddhivinayak – Dharavi
Tunnels and 3 stations at Siddhivinayak, Dadar & Shitaladevi
Contractor: Continental Engineering Corporation – ITD Cementation India Ltd – Tata Projects Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-05 – Dharavi – Domestic Airport
Tunnels and 4 stations at Dharavi, BKC, Vidyanagri, Santa Cruz
Contractor: J. Kumar Infraprojects Ltd – China Railway No.3 Engineering Group Co. Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-06  – Domestic Airport – Marol Naka
Tunnels and 3 stations at T1 CSI Airport , Sahar Road & T2 CSI Airport
Contractor: J. Kumar Infraprojects Ltd – China Railway No.3 Engineering Group Co. Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-07 – Marol Naka – SEEPZ
Tunnels and 3 stations at Marol Naka, MIDC & SEEPZ
Contractor: Larsen & Toubro Ltd/Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd

See a complete table of all bids received by the MMRC here.

From a total of Rs. 19,572.53 crore, the contracts’ final values are down to Rs. 18,115.23 crore, representing a 7.45% decrease.

A major boost to #MumbaiMetro3 as MMRC awards tunnelling and underground station packages to major contractors! pic.twitter.com/pKRgUcwtlb

— MumbaiMetro3 (@MumbaiMetro3) July 5, 2016

Next Steps

With the bidding stage now over, contractors will now begin mobilizing resources, conducting site pre-condition surveys, setting up casting yards and finalizing orders for heavy equipment such as New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) machines and Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs). The city’s dirty politics has not yet allowed the MMRC to take over 17 land parcels needed for the project, but for the ones that are available, I expect them to be barricaded by the end of the year with piling works commencing in Q1 2017 and initial tunneling drives in Q1 2018.

This news is significant not just for Mumbai, but for civil engineers across India who are looking forward to moving on from Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 and Bangalore Metro’s Phase 1 projects where civil works on the underground packages are in their final stages. The number of status inquiries I’ve received over the last 9 months has been tremendous, so this news has brought something for everyone to cheer about. 😀

For more updates, check out the Mumbai section of the Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG