The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) informed the Bombay High Court that it has decided to give about two months extension to bidders to study the geotechnical aspects of two road projects collectively worth over Rs 14, 000 crore.
On Tuesday, MMRDA through its counsel informed the court that it has decided to give additional time of 60 days to all bidders to conduct geotechnical investigation in respect of the projects before they submit their bids.
The genesis of the dispute lies in the two tenders floated by the MMRDA last month.These tenders are for the design and construction of an elevated road from Fountain Hotel Junction at Thane Ghodbunder Road to Bhayander at the estimated cost of about Rs 6,000 crore and the design and construction of an underground road tunnel from Gaimukh to Fountain Hotel Junction on Thane Ghodbunder road at the estimated cost of Rs 8,000 crore.
These road projects are the last leg of the ambitious coastal road project, which is expected to help with traffic congestion and ease travel time from the northern suburbs to the central and southern parts of the city of Mumbai.
Challenging the steep deadlines to submit the tenders for the coastal road project, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, through Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi and Indranil Deshmukh and Gathi Prakash of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas argued that the deadline to check the viability of the project and estimate the cost is too short and sought 60 days to ascertain the same and submit their bid.
The infra company, as one of the top infrastructure companies in the world with international contracts, argued that bidders would require a longer time to collect and assess geotechnical data for the projects, especially since the same was not provided in the Tenders.
The petition filed by Larsen & Toubro Ltd argued that originally, the deadline to submit bids was October 3, 2024, whereas no geotechnical data was provided to them nor was an opportunity to conduct their own investigations provided.
Advocate General of Maharashtra Dr Birendra Saraf assisted by law firm DSK Legal informed the court that the authorities have decided to give about two months to the bidders to look into the geotechnical aspects of the project before bidding.In September 2024 MMRDA floated the last leg of Thane Bhayandar connecting coastal road and another to connect Thane of Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 8,000 crore respectively.
The deadline for submission was October 3, 2024.
The proposed bridge in one of the projects would be the second largest after the present Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) bridge, which is also called Atal Setu.
