The 33.5 km long Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-III corridor project has received an overwhelming response from national and international companies with as many as 31 bids from nine different consortiums, officials at Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation said on Tuesday.
Five of these consortiums feature Chinese state-owned corporations including China Railway 25th Bureau Group, China Railway Engineering Group, Guandong Yuantian Engineering Co. and China Railway Tunnel Group Co. Ltd. Two Russian firms Moscow Metrostroy which has teamed up with Hindustan Construction Company, and Kyivmetrobud which has tied up with AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd. Also in the fray are Indian companies like Tata Projects Ltd, IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company, J Kumar Infraprojects Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Unity Infraprojects Ltd.
MMRC officials said the fully underground Metro-III project was divided in seven different packages where each package involves a four to five km-long twin tunnel. In all 31 bidders have pitched for all seven packages.
“The response is very encouraging. It indicates the kind of confidence bidders have in the government and its agency,” said Ms Ashwini Bhinde, Managing Director of MMRC, which is the nodal agency for the project.
Metro-III will be the second metro project after the Ghatkopar-Versova Metro-I project which has improved connectivity between Mumbai’s eastern and western suburbs. Unlike Metro-I, Metro-III will be fully underground with 27 stations which will connect the city’s key commercial business districts like Nariman Point, Bandra Kurla Complex, domestic, and international airport, and industrial areas of MIDC and SEEPZ.
