BMRCL Invites Bids for B’halli – Visvesvaraya Ind. Area Section
5 days after inviting bids for the Purple Line’s Reach 1B between Kundalahalli – Whitefield, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. has now initiated the tendering process for constructing the 72 km Phase 2 project’s Reach 1A between the existing Baiyappanahalli station and the upcoming Visvesvaraya Industrial Area station. Today, they published a notice inviting infrastructure companies to bid for constructing Reach 1A’s 8.039km elevated viaduct & 6 new stations as part of the Purple Line’s 15.257 km extension to Whitefield.
Notice Inviting Tenders
On behalf of Managing Director, BMRCL, General Manager (Contracts) invites Tenders for the work of “Construction of elevated structures (viaduct and stations) of 8.039Km (Approx.) length from Baiyappanahalli station (exlc.) to Visvesvaraya Industrial Area Station (incl.) (Chainage 18.603.879 m to 26643.032m) including Road Widening & allied works and 6 Numbers of Elevated Metro stations viz. Jyothipuram, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Garudacharpalya, Doddanakundi Industrial Area, Visvesvaraya Industrial Area in the Extension of East side of E-W Corridor of Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Phase-2 – link to notice
Besides constructing the viaduct in 27 months, the contractor will also be responsible for constructing 6 new stations at Jyothipuram, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Garudacharpalya, Doddanakundi Industrial Area, Visvesvaraya Industrial Area. The KR Puram station will serve as an interchange for the upcoming 17 km Silkboard – KR Puram line (Phase 2A) and even though the notice doesn’t mention anything about it (the tender documents will), the station’s design will be influenced to accommodate platforms for that new line. Perhaps KR Puram will have a double-decker structure like Hyderabad’s upcoming Ameerpet station or Chennai’s operational Alandur station? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Reach 1A of Bangalore’s Metro – view Bangalore Metro Phase 2 info & map
Tender documents will go on sale on December 19, 2016 and the BMRCL has estimated this section to cost Rs. 670.72 crores. The last date for submitting bidding documents is 3 pm on February 27, 2017 after which the bids will be opened & evaluated for eligibility at 3:30 pm.
As I mentioned in Reach 1B’s post, the BMRCL’s track record for quickly awarding contracts isn’t stellar, so I expect this section’s contract to be awarded only in Q3 2017 with construction work beginning shortly after in Q4 2017 subject to approvals. Timing wise, I expect this section along with Reach 1B to open no sooner than 2022. Once this, Reach 1B (Kundalahalli – Whitefield), Reach 2A (Mysore Road – Pattanagere) & Reach 2B (Pattanagere – Challegatta) are operational, the Purple Line end-to-end will become approximately 42.3 km long.
For more updates, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
How lovely. So now bidding for new lines is only left?
Yup. So far, they’ve invited bids for 6 contracts to extend the existing lines in all 4 directions, awarded 3 of those and will award remaining 3 in 2017 – see list of packages/contracts here. Waiting for notices for the 2 new lines now.
You have mentioned that the management team of the BMRCL is in shambles. What exactly is the problem and how are they being addressed, if at all? Why is the pace of work so slow? In 15 years of operation, the DMRC has managed to complete nearly three phases and has moved on to the fourth phase of construction, whereas the third phase of the Bangalore Metro will probably never be constructed. I find this incomprehensible because I find that the BMTC is extremely well run and provides satisfactory service throughout most parts of Bangalore, while the BMRCL cant even construct one line without huge delays and cost overruns.
Hi, 2 things I’ve pointed in the past:
(1) MD is also the Addl Chief Secretary to Karnataka’s Tourism Dept (like, seriously?!) where he spends some time (can’t put a % to it) in the tourism office. For a massive & complex civil engineering project like this which requires a dedicated MD to tackle issues, this is quite atrocious.
(2) Director of Finance post has been lying vacant. They’re trying to fill the position, but haven’t had success. Due to this, all contracts and finance decisions have to go through the MD for approval. Now with the MD splitting his time between BMRCL & tourism, do you see the problem?
The MD in the past has said they need Rs 12,000 crore in the form of loans to build Phase 2. So far, they’ve tied up Rs. 1500 cr from AFD and another Rs 3500 crore is in the works from KfW. Where’s the rest going to come from? They haven’t announced any details or worked with the Finance Ministry to conclude loan deals. Without assured financing, they can’t invite bids or award contracts.
It recently occurred to me that if I had missed as many deadlines as BMRCL, irrespective of what job I held, I can only assume that I would have been fired for being incompetent. I used to wonder what could the possible reasons be for these repeated delays. Now that we have isolated 2 causes (if not more) for delays, what can we as citizens do to help fix them?
I find it hard to believe that we cannot find a qualified person to fill up a critical position such as Director of Finance. Would something like RTIs, PILs, start online petitions, any other constitutional / legal means to expedite the process etc. help? Is there any effective way of bringing up these issues, drumming up support with public/press and/or pressure Government/BMRCL to take quick action?
BMRCL is worst metro in India in terms of deadlines and mismanagement.Why cannot they have a dedicated MD and fill in Director of Finance post. The way BMRCL has mismanaged phase 1 i doubt if financial institution will come forward easily to fund phase 2
Tunneling was completed in April for Malleshwaram-Majestic section still they are not able to open the line saying technical reasons and even National College -JP Nagar section where work is completed 2 years back does not have metro running ,
BMRCL is being run by incompetent idiots , they have no idea how complete work in phases which can be opened to public , they just complete the work in sections and wait for the whole phase work to complete to open for public are they not aware of these technical problems during the planning stage
Even Airport line which was planned from MG Road is being shifted to Nagwara due to steel flyover , BMRCL does not guts to stick to best route and one which can be completed earlier . MGRoad-Airport which was planned earlier now the MD says its not technically feasible how they lie so openly. Nagwara Metro will take another 6-8 years to complete and then Airport metro depending on when they start would take 3-4 if they start in parallel we would have a metro by 6-8 years . where as MGRoad -Airport can be completed 3-4 years , why wait for twice the time and rather have a Airport from Central Bangalore rather than from Nagwara , MGRoad -Airport can also be linked to Mekri Circle and Yelankha which would lot of traffic
Why are byappanahalli- Whitefield just split into 2 contracts why not 3 or 4 , that would speeded up the work unless BMRCL has given 2.5 year timeline for completion of all work and 6 months for safety checks and all clearances.
i doubt if companies will be able to complete work in 2.5 years with so much traffic and complexities around KRPuram railway station, KR Puram suspension bridge and Ring Road Flyover
Are there any land acquisition issues still lingering in this stretch?
Good to see that things are moving for the Whitefield line. I am all eager for the work on the new line towards Bommasandra to start.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38155635
Hi,
This is not related to Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield section. But please let us know if there is any chance of opening of the section from malleshwaram mantri mall to majestic soon i.e. around Jan-Feb,2017. So that people from peenya can reach majestic.
karnataka govt. itself has put a timeline of 1-April for opening. TMRG estimates Q4 2017
Looks like Turtle is moving one step ahead, but have to see when the next step is going to be put, by the Turtle called Bangalore Metro.