The civic body failed to receive any bids from eligible contractors till June 30 and the deadline for submitting the bids was postponed four times.
Nearly eight months after floating tenders for construction of two underground tunnels which will be part of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, the civic body has so far received three bids.
In a bid to ease traffic, the BMC is creating the 12.2 km-long GMLR, which will connect Goregaon in the western suburbs with Mulund in the eastern suburbs through a serious of arterial roads, underground tunnels and bridges.
The tender for constructing the underground tunnels was floated in October 2022. However, the civic body failed to receive any bids from eligible contractors till June 30 and the deadline for submitting the bids was postponed four times. According to civic officials, the three firms who have submitted their final bids are NCC Limited, Larsen and Toubro and Afcons Infrastructure Limited. The cost of the twin tunnels has been pegged at Rs 6,300 crore while the overall project has been pegged above Rs 8,550 crore.
P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) said the final bidder who will be given the work order will be finalised by end of July.
“At present we are evaluating the bids that have been submitted by these three firms and the firm which will get the work order will be finalised by end of this month,” Velrasu told Express on Sunday.
He also mentioned that the deadline for this tender had been delayed as per request from the bidding firms. The officials maintained that the deadline was delayed to ensure there is competition among the bidders so that the civic body could get the best price for this work.
“There were many requests from potential bidders to extend the deadline. Also, factors pertaining to forest department’s permission and receiving environmental clearances also mandated certain parameters for which we had to rework on the plan that eventually led to the delay,” Velrasu said.
The new environment clearances have mandated inclusion of pipeline beneath the tunnel for water flow. The official added that since this was not required earlier, reworking on these conditions added to the delay.
The tunnels will be 4.7-km long and is expected to have a 13-metre diameter. These tunnels will pass underneath the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and the depth would vary between 20 metres and 160 metres, depending on the topography. The tunnels will be made by using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) and will be equipped with advanced ventilation and lighting system along with electric surveillance.
Source : The Indian Express