The long-pending work on the underground stations along the Madhavaram - Taramani stretch of the phase II project will soon start as Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has finalised the contracts.
Three corridors of Madhavaram-SIPCOT (corridor 3- 45.8 km), Light House - Poonamallee (corridor 4- 26.1 km) and Madhavaram - Sholingnallur (corridor 5 - 47 km) have been planned under the 118.9-km phase II of the Metro Rail project taken up at an estimated cost of ₹61,843 crore.
Corridor 3 is partly underground (from Madhavaram to Taramani) and partly elevated (Taramani to SIPCOT) and the tunnelling work commenced a few months ago in Madhavaram. But the construction of the underground stations between Madhavaram and Taramani had been delayed by one year. In December 2021, five tenders floated for building underground stations from Madhavaram to Taramani were cancelled by CMRL as the prices quoted by the lowest bidders were very high.
Subsequently, the CMRL had to make changes in the loan agreement (as the stretch was predominantly funded by a loan from an international bank) to ensure that more companies participated in the bidding process.
According to CMRL officials, three contractors have been finalised to build the underground stations on the Madhavaram - Taramani line. Tenders for this stretch were divided into five packages (Madhavaram - Perambur, Ayanavaram - Kellys, KMC -Royapettah, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai - Adyar Junction and Adyar Depot - Taramani).
A joint venture between Dinesh Chandra Agarwal Infracon Pvt. Ltd. and Soma Enterprises has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Madhavaram - Perambur line. While Tata Projects emerged as the lowest bidder for the Ayanavaram - Kellys stretch, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. has bagged work on the remaining stretches of KMC - Royapettah, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai - Adyar Junction and Adyar Depot - Taramani.
“We will hold further discussions shortly and subsequently award the contracts to the respective companies. These companies will be given three years to finish the construction of underground stations,” an official added.
