Afcons & Shankaranarayana Win Bangalore Metro Phase 2A ORR Work

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. and Shankaranarayana Constructions Pvt. Ltd. today emerged as the lowest bidders for constructing Bangalore Metro’s 18.236 km Silkboard – KR Puram ORR section of the 56 km Line-5 (Blue Line) after officials from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) opened financial bids submitted by 9 bidders.

BMRCL had re-invited civil construction bids for this line of Phase 2A in 2 sub-packages or lots in December 2019 after a round of failed bidding between 2018-2019. Technical bids were opened on March 13, 2020 to reveal a total of 9 bidders that submitted 14 bids – 6 for package 1 and 8 for package 2.

The 1st package (Silkboard – Kodibeesanahalli) includes a 9.859 km viaduct, 6 elevated stations and a roughly 2.84 km long flyover with loops at Central Silkboard. The 2nd package (Kodibeesanahalli – KR Puram) includes a 8.377 km viaduct, 7 elevated stations, a 1.097 km depot-line linking to the existing Baiyapanahalli Depot and a 0.30 km pocket track.

Package 1 Financial Bids

BMRCL’s Estimate: Rs. 731.18 Crore

FirmBid
Afcons InfraRs 785.25 cr
GR InfraRs 795.87 cr
NCCRs 855.40 cr
L&TRs 865.07 cr
Gayathri – CSCEC JVDisqualified
Sunway – VNCPL JVDisqualified

Contract: Package 1- PHASE 2A/P1/60(a)
Scope
: Construction of elevated structures (Viaduct & Stations) of length 9.859 km from Chainage 0.000 m to 9859.000 m and 6 Nos of elevated metro stations viz, Central Silk Board, HSR layout, Agara, Ibbalur, Bellandur, Kadubeesanahalli including road widening, Utility diversion and allied works of Bengaluru Metro Rail Project Phase-2A. AND Construction of loops, ramps for road flyover at Central Silk Board junction of approx. length of 2.84 Km including Road widening & allied works in Reach5 line (R5/P4) of Bengaluru Metro Rail Project, Phase-2.

Package 2 Financial Bids

BMRCL’s Estimate: Rs. 594.25 crore

FirmBid
ShankaranarayanaRs 623.55 cr
Afcons InfraRs 639.16 cr
GR InfraRs 650.52 cr
L&TRs 698.19 cr
NCCRs 701.22 cr
ITD CemRs 720.64 cr
Gayatri – CSCEC JVDisqualified
GGHB – CVCC JVDisqualified

Contract: Package 2 – PHASE 2A/P2/60(b)
Scope: Construction of elevated structures (Viaduct & Stations) of length 9.774 km from Chainage 9859.000 m to 18236.000 m and 7 Nos of elevated metro stations viz, Kodibeesanahalli, Marathahalli, ISRO, Doddanekundi, DRDO sports complex, Saraswathi Nagar and K R Puram including 1.097 km length link line to Baiyappanahalli Depot, 0.30 km length Pocket track, Road widening, Utility diversion and allied works of Bengaluru Metro Rail Project Phase -2A

Route Map of Phase 2A’s ORR Line-5 (Blue Line) – view Bangalore Metro Phase 2A info & map

Compared to BMRCL’s estimates – Afcons’ bid was roughly 7.39% higher for Package 1, while Shankaranarayana’s bid was 4.93% higher for Package 2, so it remains to be seen if the BMRCL will (1) award as-is or (2) reduce the scope of work and negotiate to bring the final contract value down. The lowest bids weren’t horribly high, so I do not see this going into a retender.

If and when awarded, Afcons and Shankaranarayana will have 27 months to complete all civil work for this new line. If awarded by year-end, then I expect basic site prep work to start in Q1 2021, with full fledged construction in Q2 2021.

Detailed information of this line from its DPR can be viewed here.

The line’s construction, as part of Phase 2A, is being funded through an official development assistance (ODA) loan by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which also plans to finance the line’s 38 km extension to the Bangalore Airport (KIAL) in Devanahalli through Hebbal and Yelahanka as part of Phase 2B for which bids were invited in July. The bid submission deadline for its three packages was recently moved to November 27, 2020.

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

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

51 Responses to "Afcons & Shankaranarayana Win Bangalore Metro Phase 2A ORR Work"

  1. Vijay George Richards says:

    Loveley!! Hope it gets awarded and work start soon!!

    Reply
  2. Shashidhara Rao says:

    Never heard of Shankara Narayana Constructions. Have they executed any project in other cities?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Me neither when it comes to metro work. Not sure how they qualified in the technical round. I see they used to be earlier named “SNC Power Corporation”

      Reply
    • Bbmp says:

      It’s just your opinion/knowledge,
      SNC is brand, since 1960,
      Known firm over nationally and had footprints in overseas, do Google before giving statements

      Reply
    • Sashikant Sharna says:

      Shankarnarayana Constructions is a well known name in power sector and have executed many big projects successfully and that too within the time frame . Hopefully, they will complete this job of Bangalore Metro within the time frame.

      Reply
      • Prasenjit Mitra says:

        We are Alliance Commercial Transport,we have many types of hiring equipment like….crane/Boom placer/trailer/TM etc.

        Contact number 9831825671

        Reply
  3. Abhijit Seal says:

    @TMRG Pkg2 ssn has bid 623 and Afcons 639. So is it possible that BMRCL gives Afcons pkg2 also by valuing there past exp. Does any metro has done that in past? Giving the contract to not to lowest bidder.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      BMRCL found no issues with their experience (which I’m unaware of for metros), otherwise they would have been disqualified in the technical round. Let’s see happens in the financial bid evaluation stage.

      Reply
    • MRTC says:

      What a funny man you are!!!!! Check Shankaranarayana constructions history,

      Reply
  4. S P SHANKAR says:

    Shankarnarayana Constructions Pvt Ltd ?? Are they part of any BMRCL Projects earlier ??

    Reply
  5. Rajagopalan V says:

    What happens next? Is this the final bid process? How much more time will it take till work starts?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      If the contract is awarded by year-end, then basic site prep work should start in Q1 2021 with full fledged construction in Q2.

      Reply
  6. Prashanth says:

    Is this e- bidding or manual?

    Who is Shankarnarayana Constructions Pvt Ltd? Never heard of this construction company. Have they done any Metro projects anywhere in the country before?

    Is cost the only criteria to select winning bidders? Why shouldn’t the bidders be evaluated on quality, prior experience, timely completion, cost, safety aspects, minimal inconvenience to public during project execution, alternate motorable roads etc.

    The current execution of metro piers, structures have become an eye sore without proper finishing, landscaping and ongoing maintenance etc.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      BMRCL has their own e-bidding tool. Demonstrating past experience is part of the technical bid. BMRCL found them to be technically compliant. I haven’t seen them participate in any metro work.

      Reply
      • MRTC says:

        Oho.. Shankaranarayana constructions.. it’s a good news, they are very experts in Construction activitiese they have good technical team and effective management and work force..

        Reply
    • Shashidhar BK says:

      Absolutely Prashanth. A tier 1 city like Bengaluru should only award contracts to tier 1 companies. In the name of cost, quality and schedule. We citizens will bear the cost of delays. BMRCL has no accountability and has never considered us, commuters as stakeholders. It is high time that we form a forum ask for seat at the governance table.

      Reply
  7. Raveendra GN says:

    Shankaracharya they have built dams and power stations.

    This is the first time they are into metro if I am not wrong.

    Reply
  8. Prahalad Rao R says:

    Only L&T do the work with proper ethics & completes the project work faster.

    Reply
    • Praveen says:

      I guess u r not updated in Metros and do not follow TMRG s metro updates.
      I agree that L&T is enormous and has all work credentials.. But there are other Contractors who are in business since long time and also experts in their own domain. There are contractual terms which guide project progress too.. please don’t judge things blindly and have logical approach too.

      Reply
  9. Raghavendra says:

    I do not understand what makes BMRCL take almost 1 year for any tender closing, it took almost 7 months to evaluate the bids. We almost lost 3 years for underground packages also. If so much time goes for tendering process only, then the project is subject to delay also……

    Reply
  10. Ashwath Shetty says:

    Only L&T do the work with proper ethics & completes the project work faster. 🔥❤️

    Shankaranarayana constructions, are they made this !? 😂🙏

    Metro:- Am I joke to you 🤣 LoL

    Reply
  11. Madan says:

    Why do we need a metro line parallel to an express Highway line orr .No where in the world you see reducing your infrastructure to a single lane .BMRCL should focus on pink line extension to airport rather than on Highway .

    Reply
    • AMRG says:

      Are you new to Bangalore? ORR is one of the densest corridors in Bangalore in terms of traffic. People spend hours to travel just a few kilometres every single day. Road infra is not enough for a mass transit this size.

      Reply
      • Madan says:

        I travel 200 km everyday in the city since 10 years. You have no idea of the interior Bangalore .If I ask you a way to Marathahalli from Hebbal you see only ORR but the shortest roads are through CV Raman Nagar , Indiranagar, Shivajinagar ….But all prefer ORR as these are not developed for cross commute ,if metro comes on ORR it makes lives of the people living near ORR worse with increased people and so traffic .

        Reply
  12. AMRG says:

    This is great news man, specially after the awful Aarey episode. I just have a small question

    What will the intersection of this line with purple line look like? If it goes above the purple line near the turn before KR Puram stn, will it have enough distance to descend down to the existing station level? If not, what will KR Puram station look like? I was not able to find this info in the DPR as well.

    Reply
    • Abhijit Seal says:

      The intersection line will go below the steel span of purple line near kr puram. Thats what i understood from DPR.

      Reply
      • AMRG says:

        I don’t think there’s enough room to fit it under. There’s already a road flyover below purple line near the point of intersection. If they go up they’d have to descend down really steeply to match KR Puram station’s platform level.

        Reply
  13. Rajkumar Dugar says:

    Hi TMRG, I hope BMRCL gets Centre’s Approvals for this Project soon. What happens to all these exercises by BMRCL if the Approvals get delayed or if there is endless wait ?

    Reply
  14. Bullet train says:

    It is Shame that we had given project to Shankaranarayana, i travel on this road on daily basis, it should be given to expert having on date track record. We will be in hell if project delays because of traffic and now bus lane.

    Reply
  15. Metro Boy says:

    I gave a thorough look in bmrc (namma metro) website and could find any new awarded tenders related to the orr line. Origin of this news goes back to Times of India news site, which published it without mentioning any sources at all.

    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/bengaluru-bmrcl-sets-ball-rolling-for-orr-metro-afcons-shankaranarayana-lowest-bidders/articleshow/78643598.cms

    Reply
  16. Anil says:

    Firstly it is great news that the process has restarted. Better late than never… Atleast moving forward this must pick up speed. This corridor from Silk Board to KR Puram is the equator line of Bangalore which will end up carrying probably 5 to 6 Lakhs people per day. This line will reduce load on Private transport, BMTC, Cabs etc in parallel saving lakhs of rupees in fuel and environmental pollution too. Hope the State Government pushes this for a fast track mode as it benefits Lakhs of commuters daily. Sure compared to other lines the pay back period here will be much more quick. Also read that some IT Companies In.this line are funding some metro.stations.
    Great news. Hope it is pursued on priority and will turn out to be a crown for any Government which innagurates it’s completion.

    Reply
  17. Kumar says:

    Near Dodannakindi, a stalled project, GRANDMALL for number of years, request top Builders to come forward to take it up for complition, from Bedi of IDEB, It’s a golden opportunity.

    Reply
  18. Sham says:

    Its funny how people are placing their faith on L&T so much. Some here seem more worried about appearance of BMRC’s metro pillars than safety Lol!

    L&T has messed up Hyderabad metro with pillars in the middle of road carriageways, stairways built partly on the roads to save LA costs, cracks have appeared on station buildings so quickly, now deep road caveins adjacent metro pillars due to rain!

    Besides, the first airport runway in Bengaluru’s BIA, built by L&T had to be relaid within a year due to poor quality.

    One person says only “experienced” firms must build metro in bengaluru. I think Shankarnarayana has far more experience building viaducts, complex tunnels, water projects, ATM tunnels etc than L&T & with a far more superior record.

    People need to use google & find out before posting comments!

    Reply
    • PRAVEEN P says:

      I do agree with you Sham. Most people commented have less knowledge about construction industry and more concerned about Civic concerns.

      I started my career with L&T, and have worked in AFCONS and CEC, which are into Metros since long time. I know how these companies work.

      Shankaranarayana is in construction since 1960. They are 3000 Cr company currently, which has prior experience in Dams, MRTS, Tunnels, Aqueduct cum viaducts. They have constructed Asia’s longest aqueduct in Bijapur. Longest tunnel in Karnataka.

      It is being the first Karnataka company to bag BMRCL project.
      People just rant up in Social media before doing some research.
      Most known names in Infra industry have failed in BMRCL, which leaves BMRCL progress as one of slowest in India.

      Change is necessary. Lets give the Newbie a chance to prove themselves.

      Reply
  19. Narayana swamy says:

    Good develop….

    Do you have any Fixd TMT steel used to in metro…. Works…

    How to approval TMT ??

    Form

    MS AGARWAL FOUNDRIES

    Reply
  20. Chethan A L says:

    When central government will approve Phase 2A..?

    Reply
  21. Sandeep Shetty says:

    First karanata company got BMRCL tender.. Good new for kannadigas… I think this time Kannada people will get job in metro construction.

    Reply
  22. Prakash D says:

    Still LOI is not given to the contractors? Any reason?

    Reply
  23. Arjun says:

    @TMRG kindly inform us as and when the LOA for this project is awarded. Thank you.

    Reply

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