R Infra, 10 others bid for Metro-2B, Metro-4 corridors

Mumbai: Reliance Infrastructure (R Infra) has bid for the civil construction of Metro-2B corridor connecting D.N. Nagar with Mankhurd and Metro-4 (connecting Vadala with Thane) on engineering procurement and construction (EPC) model.

This has come at a time when R Infra’s subsidiary, Mumbai Metro One Private Ltd is undergoing a legal tussle with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) over increasing the fare structure for Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro-I corridor on public private partnership model.

In all, 10 companies namely Tata, J Kumar, NCC, Simplex Afcons and few more have shown interest in construction of the Metro corridors. However, R Infra has bided in joint venture (JV) with another private company.  

The MMRDA had in January floated bids for the 23.5-km-long DN Nagar-Mankhurd Metro-2B corridor and 32-km-long Vadala -Thane Metro-4 corridors.

The civil work on both these corridors is expected to begin by the end of 2017 for which the deadline is 2021. “We have received both technical and financial bids for which we will conduct evaluation and award work accordingly,” said an MMRDA official.  

An email sent to R Infra, on bidding for the Metro-2B and Metro-4 remained unanswered till the time of going to the press.

However, R Infra had, in the past announced that it is looking at reviving its EPC business after scaling it down in the past couple of years. MMRDA has also agreed that construction of Metro via PPP model like that of Metro-1 was not a viable model and that it will construct all the Metro corridors on EPC model with the assistance of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Meanwhile, the MMRDA also announced that contractors who complete their civil works for the proposed Metro corridors before deadline henceforth would be entitled to be getting a per day compensation (bonus) of Rs 5 lakh.