Megha-HCC joint venture lowest bidder for BKC bullet train station

Firm in partnership with Hindustan Construction Corp bids Rs 3,700 crore to build underground station

The Centre’s flagship Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is set to gain momentum as a joint venture of Megha Engineering and Infrastructures and Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) has emerged as the lowest bidder to construct Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) high-speed rail station.

Sources said the joint venture was likely to undertake the project at an approximate cost of Rs 3,700 crore.

“National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has opened financial bids for the design and construction of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) high speed rail station in Mumbai (Maharashtra) under MAHSR C1 package. The financial bids of 3 technically qualified bidders were opened today (Thursday) and M/s Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd and Hindustan Construction Company Limited Joint Venture (M/s MEIL-HCC Joint Venture) have quoted the lowest bid,” NHSRCL said.

The underground rail station now features among the costliest ones to be built. The package for constructing BKC underground station had been stalled for years now, and NHSRCL had re-invited bids for the project in July. In November, four bidders emerged after the opening of technical bids. They are Megha-HCC, Afcons Infrastructure, J. Kumar Infraprojects, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

Sources said J Kumar did not make it past the technical evaluation round, and the financial bids of Afcon and L&T were close to Rs 4,200 crore and Rs 4,600 crore, respectively, comfortably placing Megha-HCC as the lowest bidder.

Meanwhile, industry sources suggested that the scope of work between HCC and Megha is currently in the works, and the companies were likely to finalise a plan to execute the project soon.

The station will have six platforms and the length of each platform is approximately 415 metres (sufficient to accommodate a 16-coach bullet train). The station will have connectivity with the metro and roadways. It is the only underground station on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR corridor.

Progress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor gathered pace after the change in government in Maharashtra earlier this year, because land acquisition for the project was stuck in the thickets of politics. One of the early announcements by the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government was clearance on all regulatory obstacles at BKC.

As of October, the Centre completed 98.87 per cent of the land acquisition in Gujarat and 95.45 per cent in Maharashtra. While BKC, the terminal station of the corridor, is making progress, another land parcel in the state remains stuck.

Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing and NHSRCL have been in dispute at the Bombay High Court over compensation for a land parcel of approximately 10 acres.

The project also marks the return of Megha Engineering into flagship railway projects. The firm, which is working on the Char Dham project, was one of the parties that have shown an interest in the now shelved proposal of the railways to run passenger trains in public-private partnership mode.