16 January,2014 11:59 AM IST | | Neha LM Tripathi
The town planning body was supposed to declare the winning bid to develop the satellite city's Metro on January 7, but officials say that due to 'excessive work' the contractor will be finalised on January 21
Navi Mumbai: Residents of Navi Mumbai will have to wait even further for the Metro to arrive in the satellite city. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has failed to declare the winner among the several bids to develop the system work of the Navi Mumbai Metro.
Ongoing construction work for the Navi Mumbai Metro at Kharghar. Authorities say they couldn't declare the winner of the contract because of excessive work. Pic/Atul Kamble
While the Metro rail in Mumbai was a public-private partnership, Metro in the satellite city is the responsibility of CIDCO. Contractors had been asked to submit their proposals by October 30. Of the six parties, three had been shortlisted but CIDCO is yet to make up its mind over who will build the systems for Navi Mumbai's Metro. Its own deadline to declare the final contractor was January 7, but the body has now set a target to release the name of the winning contractor on January 21. Authorities at CIDCO held a meeting on Monday after which the revised deadline was decided.
A month after January 21, work will begin on the first line i.e. the Belapur-Pendhar line of the project. This means the contract will be up to September 2015, with the bidders having to sign a 30-month agreement with CIDCO, beginning from the month of March. This will directly affect the date of completion of the project it is already going to miss its first deadline of 2014. The project is now expected to witness its first trial by July 2016.
The three contractors shortlisted by CIDCO are Alston (leading a consortium), Ansaldo (leading a consortium), and Larsen and Toubro (leading a consortium). When asked about the delay, Superintendent Engineer of CIDCO, VC Kamble explained, "We couldn't meet the January 7 deadline due to excessive work." But, he felt the wait would not affect the project. "The loss will be covered in future," said Kamble.
The Navi Mumbai Metro System
Once the contract is given to the bidder, system work on the Navi Mumbai Metro will begin. This system is divided into seven sub-systems:
>> Rolling stock (coaches work)
>> Signalling (signal work)
>> Traction and power supply (electrical work)
>> Telecommunication
>> Automatic fare collection
>> Track work
>> Depot equipment (maintenance)
