BMRCL to re-invite underground tender

BMRCL to re-invite underground tender
Bangalore: Nov 19, DH News Service

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) board that met in New Delhi on Thursday, decided to have the tender for a stretch of the underground (UG) portion re-invited.

Dr M Ramachandran, chairman of BMRCL told Deccan Herald that the board decided to break the tender package and bring down the cost. “We looked at methods to break the package. The stretch between City Market-Majestic will now be re-invited.

Increased competitiveness will offer us more options,” said Dr Ramachandran. With this development, tenders for the UG stretch that were originally scheduled to be awarded in July will now only be completed in the next two to three months.

The awarding of UG tender contract is delayed due to financial evaluation. With the deadline for completion of Phase-1 (September 2012) drawing nearer, the time now taken to complete the UG stretch i.e., 36 months from date of award of contract, may not be sufficient. However, BMRCL is confident of completing the project as per schedule, despite the cost, quoted by the lowest bidder, being higher than the estimated tender cost. While technical bids for the UG section were finalised in September 2008 and seven consortiums/ joint ventures were short-listed to submit the financial bid, a joint venture comprising Continental Engineering Corporation (Taiwan), Soma Enterprises Ltd (India) and CEC International Corporation India Pvt Ltd turned out to be the lowest bidder.

These bids were evaluated by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation that had been providing partial loan assistance for the project, apart from the Union Finance Ministry. The contract is estimated to cost approximately Rs 2,400 crore.

The UG route

The underground stretch runs between M Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium and Magadi Road on the East-West Corridor and between Seshadripuram and City Market on the North-South corridor, totally measuring 8.8 km. It will have seven underground stations, including two at Majestic area.