ADB approves loan, MMRDA invites bids for rolling stock

The ADB will provide a loan of Rs 7,396.5 crore, while the NDB will provide Rs 2,347.5 crore for rolling stock, signalling and telecommunication, power supply, tractions, Platform Screen Doors, Automatic Fare Collection machines, lifts and escalators for the three corridors.

To promote its Make in India policy, the government wants to give preference to Indian companies for supply of rakes. (File)

Having received approval from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for loan, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has finally invited bids for rolling stock. “The ADB has cleared the loan and we have now invited tenders for rolling stock for Metro 2A, 2B and 7. We should be able to finalise the company in three to four months and then place order for the rakes,” said Pravin Darade, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

The ADB, along with the New Development Bank (NDB), is financing three Mumbai Metro rail routes — the 18.5-km Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro 2A line, the 23.5-km DN Nagar-Mandale line and the 16-km Dahisar (E)-Andheri (E) Metro 7 line. The ADB will provide a loan of Rs 7,396.5 crore, while the NDB will provide Rs 2,347.5 crore for rolling stock, signalling and telecommunication, power supply, tractions, Platform Screen Doors (PSDs), Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) machines, lifts and escalators for the three corridors.

As the MMRDA and ADB could not reach a consensus on certain conditions, both were involved in a lengthy negotiation process. A state government notification had made it mandatory for all commercial government contracts above Rs 5 crore to have the arbitration centre for dispute resolution in India. The ADB has agreed to allow arbitration in Mumbai only for Indian companies while for foreign companies the arbitration centre will be in Singapore.

Further, to promote its Make in India policy, the government wanted to give preference to Indian companies for supply of rakes. However, the ADB has not allowed such preference and all companies will now bid on a level-playing ground. Once the bids are finalised, the MMRDA proposes to place orders for 378 rakes for the three elevated corridors by September. The procurement of the rakes has been delayed due to negotiations with the ADB.

Conceding that there was a delay, Darade said, “While the negotiations have delayed the process of procurement we will manage to complete the project in time. After we place the orders the rakes should be delivered by August 2019, in time for starting the trial runs for the corridors.” According to the MMRDA, the civil construction of Metro 2A and Metro 7 is likely to be completed by December 2019 and the corridor will be opened to the public six months later after trial runs.

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