The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that it will not be immediately going ahead with the opening of the bids for the Rs 16,577 crore Ghodbundar Road-Bhayandar bridge and tunnel, which would be one of a kind after Atal Setu.
Senior lawyer Advocate Birendra Saraf, representing the MMRDA, submitted that the petitioners Larsen and Toubro would have to unconditionally withdraw the petitions that they had filed, and the bids would now only be opened after 60 days beginning October 8.
The company agreed to reverse its petitions, which were then dismissed as ‘withdrawn’ by the court.
During the hearing, Advocate Janak Dwarkadas, representing L&T, alleged that the MMRDA was showing undue haste due to the Model Code of Conduct which is going to be imposed soon with the Assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled to be held before the end of next month. “They don’t care about the public project. It is only about the Code of Conduct”, said L&T’s counsel.
L&T had approached the High Court stating that a geotechnical investigation should have been done by the MMRDA before putting out its tenders for the project.
The firm said that just for the construction of the bridge, at least 60 boreholes needed to be dug up of about 70 meters to understand the soil condition and only then can the bidders file an informed bid for the public project. The company stated that without such geotechnical information, the bidding process cannot go ahead.
However, the MMRDA’s counsel retorted saying that the bidders themselves are supposed to do the soil testing according to the tender, and the premises are always open for them to do so.
L&T further maintained that for the geotechnical soil testing, it would need about 60 days while the MMRDA only gave about four days, within which it was not possible to access the soil condition and accordingly place the bids.
MMRDA counsel Saraf had earlier opposed L&T’s petitions, saying that there are 11 bidders and only one has a problem and just because Larsen and Toubro is saying it, the statutory body cannot be made to postpone the bidding process.
Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for L&T, alleged that the names of other bidders would ring a bell as to why the MMRDA is in such a tearing hurry and said that it would stick to a timeline.
The company that wins the bids will have to prepare the design and carry out the construction work for the mega infrastructure project.
