MTHL: Disqualified consortium moves HC

Earlier this month,the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA),which is implementing the project,decided to drop the consortium for the next stage of bidding citing lack of sufficient experience,after screening the six pre-qualification proposals it had received.

“The consortium has now approached the court saying the MMRDA did not give a reason for the disqualification. It also says that we should have given the consortium a showcause notice and allowed it to explain its position before taking the decision to disqualify it,” said an MMRDA official.

He added that in the petition,the consortium has referred to a Central government circular dated July 13,2001,giving guidelines for the qualification of bidders seeking to acquire stakes in public sector enterprises through the process of disinvestment. The letter states that any company should be given an opportunity to provide an explanation before disqualifying it. The MMRDA will present its side in the court in the second week of June.

However,MMRDA officials stated that the petition is not expected to impact the progress of the project or hinder the process of inviting financial bids.

“There was a short hearing today. We need some time to go through the petition properly. Once we do that we will see what further steps we should take,” said Ashwini Bhide,Additional Metropolitan Commissioner.

Meanwhile,the MMRDA is awaiting an approval from the Central government’s department of economic affairs before handing over the request for proposal documents to the five consortia selected for the final bidding.

The MTHL,which is being talked about for the past three decades,had earlier gone through two failed rounds of tendering. This time,the MMRDA plans to pick a contractor by November and start construction by next year.