4 Bidders for Chennai Metro Phase 2’s Line-3 Tunnels

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) today opened technical bids for constructing roughly 42 kms of underground tunnels (Packages TU01 & TU02) of Chennai Metro’s new 45.81 km Line-3 (Madhavaram – SIPCOT) to reveal 4 firms / consortia had submitted a total of 8 bids on October 29.

These tunnels on the Line-3’s 26.7 km underground section in the 118.9 km Phase 2 project will be built as part of a 52.01 km prioritized sub-project which will first see the development of Line-3 between Madhavaram – Sholinganallur and Line-5 between Madhavaram – CMBT.

CMRL had invited tenders (bids) for both packages in January 2020 with estimates of approximately Rs 1800 crore and 2500 crore, and expects the assigned contractor to finish all civil works within 1460 (4 years). Prior to that, CEG – AECOM JV had been appointed as its detailed design consultant (DDC) in September 2018.

Bidders for Both Packages:

• Gulermak Agir Sanayi Insaat ve Taahhut A.S. (Gulermak)
• Larsen and Toubro Limited (L&T)
• Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co (Singapore) Pte Ltd – Woh Hup Pte Ltd Joint Venture (STEC – WH JV)
• Tata Projects Ltd. (TPL)

Scope of TU01: Construction of approximately 9 km twin bored tunnels (total = 18 km) from the TBM Retrieval Shaft near Venugopal Nagar (of Line-5) to Kellys Station, and the construction of diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Madhavaram Milk Colony Station, Murari Hospital Station, Ayanavaram Station and Purasaiwakkam High Road Station, including launching and retrieval shafts at the above stations.

Scope of TU02: Construction of approximately 12 km twin bored tunnels (total = 24 km) from Kellys Station to Taramani Road Junction and the construction of diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Chetpet station, Royapettah Government Hospital Station, Thiruvanmiyu Station, and part diaphragm wall of Greenways Road Station, including launching and retrieval shafts at the above stations.

Here’s CMRL’s official map for Phase 2 with my edits emphasizing the start/end points of each package:

The bids have now been sent for technical evaluation which can take a couple months to complete. When that is done, the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders will be opened to reveal who’s the lowest bidder for each package and most likely contractor.

With today’s development, here’s the status of all packages for which bids have been invited so far:

Contract	Status
Line-3: Package TU01 – 9 km tunnels from Venugoapl Nagar Shaft to Kelly’s Station	Technical Bids Opened Today (this post!)
Line-3: Package TU02 – 12 km twin tunnels from Kellys Station to Taramani Road Junction	Technical Bids Opened Today (this post!)
Line-4/5: Package ECV-01 – 7.955 km elevated section with 9 stations from Power House to Porur Junction	Technical Bids Opened on October 20
Line-4: Package ECV-02 – 7.945 km elevated section with 9 stations from Porur Junction to Poonamallee Bypass	Bids Invited in August 2020 (Bid Opening: Nov 10)

For Line-3, tender notices are still pending for constructing the underground stations en route (5 packages UG-1 to UG-5) and its approximately 9.5 km elevated section south of Taramani Road Junction to Sholinganallur (2 packages EV-1 to EV-2).

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

– TMRG