Bangalore Metro | Bidders quotes 65-75% higher rates for phase-2 underground metro package

Bengaluru: It is a very surprising news that four infrastructure firms have emerged as the lowest bidders for the underground package-2 but the total value (if all four bids are added) is about 65% to 75% higher than the estimate of Rs 5,047 crore of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC). Larsen & Toubro, Gulermak, Afcons Infrastructure and Italian-Thai Development have offered a package each on the 14 km (approximate) Dairy Circle-Nagawara underground section of BMRC’s 21-km line-4 (Reach 6) of the 72-km project. Bids for this stretch’s civil works, called in June 2017, were opened on Friday.

According to Raj Kumar Duggar, a Vasant Nagar resident, “The lowest bids received by BMRC amount to Rs 8,553 crore. The amount which will be “lost” if the lowest bids are accepted works out to Rs 3,505 crore. The momentum of “losing” thousands of crores is picking up. Bengalureans were told BMRCL will go to any length to “save” money. Who will answer for the thousands of crores which will be lost now?”

“The process of awarding the project to the bidder is not complete. The bids will now undergo scrutiny by the evaluation committee. Only after that the letter of acceptance will be issued to companies, followed by signing of the agreement. If the bidders, who have quoted the lowest rates get disqualified or if the BMRCL decides not to go with the quotations, they may float tenders again or break the existing project into different packages,” said a BMRC official.

Namma Metro Map (Source: BMRC)

“It’s very easy to say who will answer the cost escalation and all these stuffs. But it is also important to note the delays caused on account of these bureaucratic issues (answering people) delays the projects and as we know time is cost. It will go up only. The only reason for cost escalation is delay on part of BMRC. When tender submitted on June 2017, it took so much time to open with so many employees working??? No efficiency- can we think of this in a private company for just 6000 crore round about order. Now BMRC is thinking of separate packages- why didn’t they thought previously. It’s quite a common problem for project businesses specially if BMRC has integration teams to handle split packages. Problem is we have to give BMRC full powers to decide and act & monitor them on speed; efficiency. We monitor them only by thinking what spokes we should put to ensure no money is lost / frauds only – automatically pushing decision making into back seat. Result- delays, general public harassment. Quite surprising.”, said Sujoy Ghosh, a metro news reader.

The higher quotes by the bidders have raised questions about the source of funds and financial implications pertaining to the project. Initially, the deadline set for Metro Phase 2 was 2020 and later it got revised to 2022.

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