JICA Approves Higher Bids for Mumbai’s Colaba – SEEPZ line

This is BIG news! Over this weekend, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd’s Managing Director Ashwini Bhide announced that they’ve received clearance from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to go forward with awarding contracts for the construction of Mumbai’s 33.5 km Colaba-SEEPZ line! This has been made possible only through upcoming design changes which will shave off some of the construction cost.

As per the Managing Director who recently interviewed with the DNA:

Recently, we received a No-Objection Clearance (NOC) from JICA and we have already concluded certain processes and some more are pending that are being followed. Soon the bids for civil construction of tunnel and stations will be awarded.

To give a little background about this line, the tendering process was wrapped up in October 2015 and the lowest bidders’ financial bids were subsequently revealed. However, all the lowest bids were a cumulative 50% higher than the estimates prepared by RITES in 2011 who had based its calculations on the Delhi Metro’s underground work as there was no other benchmark available for Mumbai.

Over the last month, the MMRCL held talks with the lowest bidders (see list below) to understand their bids and decided to make certain design changes to cut down the cost. These include reducing the number of entry/exits at certain stations and reducing the length of the platforms. While these design changes will certainly help, the cumulative cost is still expected to be 20-25% higher than the original estimates which the JICA is fine with.

Mumbai Metro’s Line 3
– view Mumbai Metro map and info

Here’s the list of the lowest bidders who will shortly get the contracts:

•  Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-01
Stations: Cuffe Parade – Vidhan Bhavan – Churchgate – Hutatma chowk
Lowest Bidder: Larsen & Toubro Ltd/Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd

•  Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-02
Stations: CST – Kalabadevi – Girgaon – Grant Road
Lowest Bidder: OSJC Moscow Metrostroy – Hindustan Construction Co.Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-03
Stations: Mumbai Central – Mahalaxmi – Acharya Atre Chowk – Science Museum – Worli
Lowest Bidder: DOGUS – SOMA

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-04
Stations: Siddhivinayak – Dadar – Sitaladevi
Lowest Bidder: Continental Engineering Corporation – ITD Cementation India Ltd – Tata Projects Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-05
Stations: Dharavi – BKC – Vidyanagari – Santa Cruz
Lowest Bidder: J.Kumar Infraprojects Ltd – China Railway No.3 Engineering Group Co. Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-06
Stations: Domestic Terminal – Sahar Road – International Terminal
Lowest Bidder: J.Kumar Infraprojects Ltd – China Railway No.3 Engineering Group Co. Ltd

• Contract MM3-CBS-UGC-07
Stations: Marol Naka – MIDC – SEEPZ
Lowest Bidder: Larsen & Toubro Ltd/Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd

For a complete list of bidders and their bids, see: Financial Bid Info Submitted by Infra Companies to Build Mumbai Metro’s Line 3 (Colaba-SEEPZ)

Once the contracts are awarded, the only major issue remaining would be the location of the line’s depot which is proposed to come up at Aarey Colony, but in 2014 run into trouble with environment activists, citizen groups and NGOs operating under the umbrella of the Aarey Conservation Group. The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on March 12 indicated that they will stick to Aarey Colony and build the depot with a new & smaller footprint, but are yet to make a final call. As per the CM:

Following the uproar over cutting of trees under the earlier proposal, we had asked the authorities to come up with new plans. According to it, only 350 trees, none of which are from rare species, will be cut down. To compensate, 3,500 trees will be planted and taken care of. Now, since the proposal is with us, we have to decide whether we should spend Rs 1,500 crore on realignment or cut only 350 trees by ensuring 3,500 new tree plantations.

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– TMRG