Aarvee Wins Madurai MRTS’ Detailed Project Report Contract

Aarvee Associates on Thursday was declared as the lowest bidder to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Madurai Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) project in Tamil Nadu.

The project’s Detailed Feasibility Report (DFR) was prepared by Balaji Railroad Systems (BARSYL) and submitted to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) in November 2022. It suggested building a 31 km transit line between Thirumangalam – Othakadai with 20 stations and a train maintenance depot on a 45 acre site at Thirumangalam.

After reviewing the feasibility report, Tamil Nadu’s state government approved the creation of a DPR in January 2023. Shortly after CMRL invited bids for this DPR contract in February with a Rs. 3 crore estimate and 75 day completion deadline.

Technical bids were opened earlier this month to reveal 4 bidders.

Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs.)
Aarvee Associates Architects Engineers & Consultants Pvt. Ltd.	1,35,93,600
Balaji Railroad Systems Pvt. Ltd.	1,64,24,420
RITES Ltd.	3,29,22,000
SYSTRA MVA Consulting (India) Pvt. Ltd.	3,50,46,000

Contract Title: CMRL/DPR/MDU/2023

Brief Scope: Selection of Consultant for Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for Mass Rapid Transit System in Madurai.

Aarvee’s bid was way below CMRL’s budgeted estimate (just 45% of it), so a contract should be awarded in the coming weeks without a long financial bid evaluation period.

As shared earlier, the DPR will clearly lay-out whether a heavy-rail metro system should be built or a “metro-lite” light-rail transit (LRT) system, location of stations and depot among other system specifications.

If things go according to the prescribed schedule, then we should see the first draft of the DPR, if CMRL chooses to share, in Q3 2023. Post finalization, the DPR then go through the regular motions of approvals with funding being secured parallelly. At this time I don’t see construction starting until at least 2025.

For more updates, check out the Madurai & Chennai Metro sections or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG