Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro project gets moving again, 'new' MMRC meet on Aug 12.

After a hiatus of nearly five months, the stalled tendering process for the Rs. 23,126-crore Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro will be back on track next week with the first board meeting of the reconstituted Mumbai Metro Rail Corp (MMRC) scheduled for August 12.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which was until now the parent body of the MMRC, had put the tendering process on hold for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro, awaiting the reconstitution of the Metro Corp and the new board taking over. The development authority had also deferred a decision on the pre-qualification bids it had received for the project in March, preferring the proposals to be assessed by the new board of the reconstituted MMRC.

U P S Madan, metropolitan commissioner of the MMRDA, said, 'With the state government having approved the reconstitution of the MMRC, we have scheduled the first meeting on August 12. We definitely intend to put forth information about the pre-qualification bids and the tendering process for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro to the board in the first meeting itself.'

The meeting is crucial for the MMRC to scrutinise the bidders for their eligibility and prepare a shortlist of consortia from whom financial bids would be invited to eventually start the construction of the 33.5-km Metro line. The Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro would be one of the country's longest underground Metro corridors. The development authority had received pre-qualification proposals from 14 firms in joint ventures in early March.


THE INDIAN EXPRESS