The Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited, or K-RIDE, announced on Monday that it would invite fresh tenders for the remainder of the civil works of Corridor 2 between Benniganahalli and Chikkabanavara under the Bengaluru suburban railway project. The decision was based on the advice of the advocate-general and the recommendations of the tender evaluation committee. K-RIDE said the contract awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in August 2022 was terminated due to non-compliance with tender conditions, including failure to submit the required performance security and bank guarantee. To expedite progress, the remaining civil works will now be tendered in three separate packages. Details of the packages will be issued shortly, K-RIDE said in a statement. The Bengaluru suburban railway project is a Rs 15,767-crore joint venture between the Government of India and the state government, aimed at easing Bengaluru’s traffic congestion by setting up a 148-km suburban rail network across four corridors. Corridor-2, called the Mallige Line, will span from Benniganahalli to Chikkabanavara and is considered crucial as it connects the city’s eastern and western areas, apart from intersecting with other suburban rail and metro lines. In 2022, L&T was awarded the civil works contract for Corridor 2. However, delays and non-compliance with contractual obligations led to the termination of the agreement, stalling progress for nearly two years. The contract with L&T was terminated in August, after the company halted work in March. It also issued a legal notice saying that it had suffered massive losses as its resources remained idle due to the delay in acquiring the land required for the project. Of the four corridors under the project, there was progress only in Corridor 2, in which construction was taken up in around 25 km of the rail line.
