L&T & MEIL Win Thane – Borivali Tunnel Project’s Work in Mumbai

May 12, 2023 Update: MEIL has been declared as the preferred bidder for both packages’ contract. For Package 2, although L&T was the lowest bidder, they inadvertently failed to include the necessary tax component in their bid and got disqualified in the financial bid evaluation stage. L&T challenged this in the Bombay High Court, but their plea got dismissed.

April 25, 2023 Original Post: That was awfully quick! Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd. (MEIL) were today declared as the lowest bidders for one package each of 11.84 km Thane – Borivali twin tunnel project’s construction in Mumbai.

This road project by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will feature 2 x 10.8 km road tunnels under Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and a combined 1 km of approach roads on both ends.

The tunnels with 3 lanes each will be built using 4 mega tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at a maximum depth of 23m below the surface and connect Magathane’s Ekta Nagar in Borivali and Tikuji-Ni-Wadi at Manpada in Thane.

MMRDA had invited tenders for its civil construction under 2 civil packages in December 2022 with unknown estimates and a 4 year completion deadline. The project’s total estimated cost is Rs. 13,200 crore.

Technical bids were opened earlier this month to reveal L&T and MEIL as the only 2 bidders. L&T’s technical bid for Package 1 was disqualified as they didn’t submit additional documents to support qualification. Subsequently they requested MMRDA to only consider them for Package 2’s tender.

Package 1: Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
L&T	Disqualified
MEIL	7464

MMRDA’s Brief Scope of Package 1: Design and Construction of 5.75 km long twin tube road tunnel, Borivali side

Package 2: Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
L&T	6625
MEIL	6937

MMRDA’s Brief Scope of Package 2: Design and Construction of 6.09 km Thane side long twin tube road tunnel

MMRDA’s estimate for both packages remain unknown, so I can’t provide an assessment on the chances of contracts getting awarded and the length required to arrive at that stage.

As shared earlier this month – the project aims to drastically reduce the driving time between both spots from 1-2 hours (depending on day/time) to just about 15 minutes. MMRDA has received wildlife clearance from the National Board for Wildlife, while environmental clearance for diverting 57.02 hectares of forest area is still pending.

Besides this tunnel project, I’m also tracking Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s 12.20 km Goregaon-Mulund Link Road which will feature 6.3 km twin tunnels to form another east-west link beneath SGNP, just south of the Thane – Borivali tunnels. The bid submission date was recently rescheduled to May 3.

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– TMRG