Global tenders will be floated again to select the exclusive developer-contractor for the Rs.5, 581-crore monorail, an elevated Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
The decision to float the global tender again comes in the wake of only one firm, Bombardier Transportation, coming forward with the expression of interest (EOI) when the extended deadline for submission ended on Tuesday.
The EOI is part of the global tenders floated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the general consultant for Kerala Mono Rail Corporation Ltd (KMCL), the special purpose vehicle set up by the government to execute the project in the cities.
Confirming that only one company has given the EOI, State Planning Board Member and Principal adviser, DMRC, E. Sreedharan told The Hindu that “we cannot go forward with the EOI from one company and will have to go for re-tendering again”.
Firms specialising in MRTS from the U.K., Japan, Malaysia, Korea, and China had evinced interest in the project and attended the pre-EOI conference held in Delhi.
Lack of interest from companies has surprised the proponents of the project and Mr. Sreedharan, who had announced that the work for monorail in Kozhikode will commence in February.
The last date of submission of EoI was October 1 and it was extended to October 15 following requests from the participants.
Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju has called for a report from the DMRC on the lack of interest to the EOI and on the way forward.
The DMRC will submit the report by Monday, he said. Mr. Sreedharan said a high-level meeting to be held in Delhi on October 21 will discuss the issue in detail and come up with a course of action. ‘We will communicate the outcome to the State. “The time schedule will not be affected in any way,” he asserted.
Global tenders were floated by treating the two monorail projects as one as only a 36.4-km stretch would be covered in the first phase in both the cities.
