A year after cancelling the tender for the underground line of Phase 2, the BMRCL has invited fresh bids for the last two packages of the 13.7-km tunnel between Dairy Circle and Nagavara.
The BMRCL had previously thought of reducing the tunnel to about 6 km after four companies quoted 69% more than the estimated cost, escalating the price of Rs 5,000 crore civil work by nearly Rs 3,500 crore.
After cancelling the tender, the BMRCL has been inviting tenders for the underground section in packages. The time-consuming process has delayed the Gottigere-Nagavara (Reach 6) line by nearly two years. Bids were invited for two packages in the middle of the tunnel section last year.
The tenders invited on Monday cover the tunnel section’s tail ends — Tannery Road to Nagavara (4.59 km) in the north and Dairy Circle to Langford Town (3.65 km) in the south. The civil work for the 8 km stretch is estimated to cost Rs 2,811.75 crore. The bids will be opened in March but the financial evaluation may take some months. Tenders for the midsection — Shivajinagar to Tannery Road (2.88 km) and Vellara Junction to Shivajinagar (2.75 km) — were invited in June 2018. The work is yet to be awarded as the last date for the bidding was postponed several times. The civil work should be completed by 2022.