RITES – PMPL JV Wins Bangalore Metro Challaghatta Depot’s Contract
October 13, 2022 Update: BMRCL has issued LOA to RITES – Power Mech Projects JV with a contract value of Rs. 499.41 crore.
April 11 2022 Original Post: RITES Ltd. – Power Mech Projects Ltd. JV today emerged as the lowest bidder to construct Bangalore Metro Purple Line’s Challaghatta Depot & Workshop after Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) opened financial bids.
This depot of the 73.92 km Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project will be built on a portion of a 40 acre land parcel abutting Mysore Road at the southern-end of Reach 2B which is under construction by Soma Enterprise.
In the coming years, Challaghatta Depot will become important in running smooth operations on the Purple Line, along with the Kadugodi Depot, when the existing Baiyappanahalli Depot gets re-purposed to serve the 57 km Blue Line connecting Silkboard – KR Puram – Kempegowda International Airport.
BMRCL had invited tenders for its construction work in January with a 24 month deadline and Rs. 517.44 crore estimate. Technical bids were opened in March to reveal 5 bidders.
Financial Bid Values
| Firm | Bid (Rs. Crore) |
| RITES – PMPL JV | 499.41 |
| URC Constructions (URCC) | 499.64 |
| IRCON International | 540.41 |
| KEC International – SAM India JV | 542.91 |
| RVNL – DRA Infracon JV | 666.99 |
BMRCL Brief Scope: Construction of Depot cum Workshop at Challaghatta in Reach-2 Extension of Bangalore Metro Rail Project, Phase-2.
STUP Consultants Pvt. Ltd. was awarded the depot’s Detailed Design Consultant (DDC) contract in January 2020 with a value of Rs. 4.47 crore.
I’m surprised BMRCL took only a month to complete technical bid evaluation as they, and others, typically take months to reach this stage.
Anyhow, RITES-PMPL’s bid of Rs. 499.41 crore was 3.48% below BMRCL’s estimate of Rs. 517.44 crore, so a contract should be awarded in the coming weeks without a long financial bid evaluation period.
Challaghatta Depot is the 5th and final depot of the Phase 2 project to be tendered out. See a list of all Phase 2 civil & system packages and their contractors here.
As shared earlier, I’m expecting the final 1.314 km section of Reach 2B connecting Kengeri Station – Challaghatta Station to open up in early 2023. Track plinth work for it started in March – see pics & details.
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– TMRG
All tenders are handed over but none of these projects completes on time. Few months delay is okay but not even a single line has opened quickly or as per mentioned timeline. No one cares either from state or centre.
@TMRG: So your prediction of second half of 2023 remains for whitefield and ecity metro?
Yeah, things are terribly delayed for all depots. There’s just no sense of urgency or enthusiasm displayed, unlike other projects in tier-2/3 cities.
2nd half for Whitefield still holds. Any further delays beyond that would be ridiculous. Ecity metro depends on availability of trains – hopefully those 7 from BEML are delivered before 2024 to start services, even if it’s with a ridiculous frequency.
Thanks @TMRG.
Beautiful garden City a few years ago, has been turned into concrete jungle. A fortnight ago ,I visited Delhi,the metro in most places is underground ,though the roads are very wide. Well designed net work by Mr. Sreedharan. Hat’s off. In Bangalore atleast MG Road stretch could have been made underground, retaining the South parade!