Mumbai: The Gurgaon RapidRail operator IL&FS Rail Limited is leading in the race to win the contract for operations and maintenance Mumbai Monorail. The company has quoted lowest rate for the bid invited by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
The earlier contract awarded to L&T and Scomi Engineering was expired in 2013 and the MMRDA has been seeking for a suitable replacement of operator since then. MMRDA is likely to start services on the entire Wadala-Jacob Circle corridor in a month.
After beginning of operation of entire stretch around 2 lakh commuters a day are expected to ride on monorail. The 8.8-km phase-I between Wadala and Chembur used to have a daily ridership of 15,000, till it was suspended, following a fire.
“IL&FS quoted Rs 2,000 crore while Reliance Infrastructure has bid Rs 6,408 crore for a 10-year contract”, MMRDA commissioner UPS Madan said.
According to sources the MMRDA had estimated the operations’ cost to be around Rs 1,000 crore.
“We will study the bids and take a final call. We may even negotiate with bidders to reduce the cost. A final decision will be taken by MMRDA’s executive committee”, said an official of MMRDA.
