4 Firms Submit Bids for Bangalore Metro PH-2’s Underground Section
Four infrastructure firms have submitted bids for constructing the 13.92 km Dairy Circle – Nagawara underground section of Bangalore Metro’s 21.415 km Line-4 (Reach 6) of the 72 km Phase 2 project after officials on October 23rd opened the bidding packets to evaluate proposals for assigning contractors to build the line’s 4 underground civil packages.
This list includes Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Italian-Thai Development (ITD), Afcons Infrastructure and Gulermak.
Notes
• All four firms have been triple confirmed to have bid independently without any foreign or other local partners. Firms going solo due to experience and newly found confidence is a growing trend in India as witnessed over the past year in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
• Larsen & Toubro has submitted bids for only Package 2 and Package 3.
• Gulermak is the only non-Indian firm (currently working on its first Indian assignment with Tata Projects in Lucknow) and is likely to tie up with a local collaborator if they’re awarded a package.
• 16 firms had bought the tender documents, and the pre-bid meeting’s attendance included these firms (list is not-exhaustive) – L&T, Tata Projects, HCC, Coastal, Soma Enteprise, Pratibha Industries, Gammon, Gulermak, Afcons Infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, ITD and URCC.
• Both contractors (and its individual firms) who worked on Phase 1 (Coastal – Transtonnelstroy JV on Green Line’s UG-1 and CEC – Soma – CICI JV on Purple Line’s UG-2) stayed away from submitting bids. This was either due to profitability concerns or past experience in dealing with BMRCL.
• As per the bidding notice, a firm can only win a maximum of 2 packages.
Underground section of Gottigere – Nagawara line – see exact alignment/location of the stations here
Background
Civil construction bids for this underground section’s tunnels, stations, ramps and other allied infrastructure were invited in late-June for four packages:
• Package 1 (R6-UG-P1) – South Ramp to Vellara Road Station with 3 stations at Dairy Circle, MICO Industries, Langford Town
• Package 2 (R6-UG-P2) – Vellara Road Station to Cantonment Station with 3 stations at Vellara Road, MG Road, Shivaji Nagar
• Package 3 (R6-UG-P3) – Cantonment Station to Venkateshpura Station with 3 stations at Cantonment, Pottery Town, Tannery Road
• Package 4 (R6-UG-P4) – Venkateshpura Station to North Ramp with 3 stations at Venkateshpura, Arabic College, Nagawara
With this development, technical bid evaluation has started. Financial bids of the firms who qualify through the technical bidding round are expected to be opened in the first half of 2018. That’ll give an idea of the likely contractors before any sort of official announcement is made.
For more updates, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Looks like at least April-May 2018 before any sort of ground work starts.
Its been a long time since TMRG posted any update on Bangalore Section. Thanks and keep up the good work 🙂
Yes was wondering the same too
Was out due to a mix of work, travel, Diwali, family events, me getting lazy etc etc.
October was quite an uneventful month for all systems, so y’all didn’t miss out on anything major 🙂
When it is planned to open the financial bids and expected issue of LOI ?
Fin bids are expected to be opened in the first quarter of 2018. Issue of LOI after that depends on whether the bids are within the BMRCL & EIB’s acceptable range.
Hi, TMRG, Is it a problem for BMRCL that only four companies have applied??
3-5 bidders is standard across the industry. All 4 are top-of-the-line experienced contractors, so there’s no cause for concern. Even if one of them undercuts the others, the city will still be in good hands.
Hi TMRG, long time to see. is there DPR available for entire stretch of Gottigere and Nagawara?
Yep. Here’s the original DPR from 2011 which was just made available – http://english.bmrc.co.in/FileUploads/da2798_NewsFiles.pdf
This provides a general idea of the project and doesn’t reflect changes made over the years.
The DPR still doesn’t show exact locations of Gottigere-Swagat Cross section or I haven’t read it properly. Did you find it by any chance?
Exact locations have been published yet. I’ll share them whenever revealed.
Hi TMRG, is there any plan for the Outer ring road ? As far as I can see, there seems to be nothing to reduce congestion on ORR.
Yep – comes under Phase 2A. BMRCL is trying to secure funding for its construction right now.
Hi,
Good to see such a much needed rail line has been planned and will be good to see constructed and commissioning.
Any specific reason engineering consultants operate in India with expertise in India and overseas is not been encouraged to submit the bid.
Curious to know the reason.
I would have thought this would enhance the experience of skills in India and to know lessons learnt outside India with similar projects.
Earlier foreign firms had to bid in a JV with a local Indian firm holding a majority stake. Perhaps this was done for legal purposes, but this requirement is no longer being enforced by operators.
Indian firms have participated overseas. L&T and SP have contracts all over the Middle East.
Your Diagram of Reach6 shows Cantonment Metro Station at the approved location. However, as you are aware, BMRCL has publicly stated that they have decided to shift this Station to a playground near New Bamboo Bazaar in Shivajinagar. Kindly clarify. Which location (of Cantonment Metro Station) do the Tender Documents specify ? Thank you 🙂
Bamboo Bazaar is the new and current location of the station.
My map above is just for reference. The caption below it points to the latest/current map.
So as per your map in the link, Gottigere station is near Meenakshi Mall, which is actually 2.5 kms from Gottigere? Do we have exact location of stations ?
Exact locations haven’t been revealed. The locations I’ve marked are tentative (indicated by *) based on the route’s chainage (km markings) in the environmental impact assessment.
That’s a smart way to estimate the location of the station. Good work TMRG !
Hi Tmrg,
Gottigere to swagath contract is assigned. why work has not started?
As a daily commuter on BG road, I observed the following. I see large area is cleared near JD Mara stop. Also opp. to menakshi Temple, college compound wall is completly demolished and getting cleared.
What is more puzzles me is, just after nice road, opp to Sherwood school, gated community compound wall is demolished and pushed in nearly 30 to 40 feet. Their park and kids play area is gone. As in all three places this activity kind of happened in a similar time frame I was wondering this are all may be the station location. Just a speculation form me.:)
I don’t think metro line will cross NICE road and reach Sherwood high school (it’s actually doubtful of reaching Gottigere itself, exact station locations are yet to be revealed). The road expansion work has been also planned with metro as the current road is just 4 lane and 2 lane(after Meenakshi Temple). They are all just demolishing their property in their own way. For ex: Decathlon and a new apartment opposite to it have cleared some space as per the notice which has been given to them.
To be more clear, the work happening has taken up by BBMP towards road widening from JD Mara to Koli farm. work on METRO has yet to start.
Survey work has commenced – you should be able to spot men with survey equipment at different locations.
Sir,
What’s your guess on when the station alignments will be out for the Swagath road – Gottigere stretch? When do you think construction will start here?
Can’t guess when BMRCL’s IT team will do that or when piling work (1st step of construction) will start. Stay tuned to find out…
Thanks for sharing this TMRG. I guess the exact station location alignment for the gottigere: dairy circle elevated section is much awaited by many of us. Hope the work starts soon and is completed near to the target.
Any completion date for Whitefield project and when we can expect metro to Hebbal?
Whitefield extension – won’t open before the end of 2021. Land acquisition is a concern.
Hebbal connectivity – Maybe in 2030? The ORR Line is envisioned to first connect Silkboard – KR Puram. Even though it has been approved by the state government, the BMRCL hasn’t been able to secure funding from private firms. As of now, only Rs 100 crores have been committed while the BMRCL is seeking Rs 1100-2100 crores.
any probable date for bid opening ,
they said dec end. any information
In these Tender Documents (Package 2 and 3), kindly let us know the location of Cantonment Metro Station shown – is it opposite to Main Entrance (as was approved) or is it at the Playground (as BMRCL wants) ?
Hai TMRG,
When can I expect the financial bid opening date of Bangalore Underground metro.
As per information available, the financial bids were to be opened in the month of January 2018. Any specific date has been mentioned by BMRCL?
As per information available, the bids were to be evaluated and announced in the month of January 2018. Any specific date has been mentioned by BMRCL?
any progress on this line?