Gawar Wins Mumbai Pune Expressway – Trans Harbor Elevated Highway’s Work
Gawar Constructions on Thursday was declared as the lowest bidder to construct an elevated corridor to connect the operational Mumbai Pune Expressway (MPE) and under construction Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL or Atal Setu) in Maharashtra.
This six lane project by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) involves construction of 2 elevated roads linked by a 11 km portion of the existing JNPT Highway (NH-348A).
On the western-end, a 3.657 km corridor will link MTHL’s Chirle interchange to Gavan Phata. On the eastern-end, a 2.287 km corridor will link Palaspe Phata to MPE. From end to end, the entire corridor will be approximately 17 kms long.
MMRDA had invited tenders for construction in March 2023 with a Rs. 997.96 crore estimate and 30 month deadline.
Technical bids were opened in July to reveal 4 bidders. During evaluation, bids submitted by GR Infraprojects and Larsen Toubro, surprisingly, were found technically non-responsive and disqualified.
| Firm | Bid (Rs. crore) with Tax |
| Gawar Construction Ltd. | 1400.15 |
| PNC Infratech Ltd. | 1455.33 |
Brief Scope: Construction of Elevated Corridor from Mumbai Pune Expressway to MTHL Interchange at Chirle From NH 48 Km 105+400 to Km 108+150 and from NH 348 Km 12+500 to Km 17+100
Gawar’s bid of Rs. 1400.15 crore was 40.30% higher than MMRDA’s estimate of Rs. 997.96 crore. Even without the tax component, Gawar’s bid of Rs. 1185.57 was 18.79% higher, so this will head straight to the negotiation table. If that fails, then this project will have to be re-tendered out.
As far as L&T’s surprise disqualification goes, for those curious – L&T failed to satisfy clause 2.2.2.2 of the tender requirements demonstrating the completion of a six lane Rail Overbridge (ROB) with at least one span of 90m or minimum 2 spans of 60m.
L&T used MTHL’s Package 3 as evidence within their bid, but that package is still under construction and couldn’t be admitted as eligible “completed” work.
This boo-boo reminds me of the Thane – Borivali Tunnel project where L&T recently got disqualified for its 2 packages for different reasons. For Package 1, they didn’t submit additional documents to support their bid and got disqualified in the technical round. 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 round.
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– TMRG
These are not minor errors of omission by L&T. Obviously they have been nudged before hand, to have some gaps on their submissions, as it must have been decided by the political bosses, who these tenders are supposed to go to.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case
It doesn’t matter but contractor must do good job following all safety norms.
Lowest is not best
Any idea where the “planned road” from the dead-end on MTHL’s main carriageway at the Chirle IC is supposed to go?
Nowhere for now. Hopefully to NH-66 and Konkan Expressway in the future? Let’s see.
I’m suprised how the people in charge have waited to tender this elevated flyover to MPE, this should have been part of the original MTHL project so as to enable connectivity to MPE from day one… I think there will be massive bottle necks at Chirle till KON
Where will Virar – JNPT section of Mumbai Vadodara expressway’s interchange with MPE be at? Is it going to be at the same place as the eastern end of this project?
Why was this not tendered along with the MTHL project? Ideally connecting to MPE was required from day 1.
when work will start , contract awarded by October month but as on date no update of construction activity, Do you have any update of this project current status.
Waiting for reply from TMRG ….