5 Bidders for Versova – Dahisar Coastal Road’s Work in Mumbai

6 civil engineering firms (2 in a consortium) have submitted bids to construct the 18.47 km Versova – Dahisar Coastal Road project in Mumbai after Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) opened technical bids on Monday.

This six lane project in Mumbai’s western suburbs is also known as Versova-Dahisar Link Road (VDLR) and is estimated to cost Rs. 16,621 crore. Its construction will be carried out via 6 civil packages (A, B, C, D, E & F) and includes a series of elevated roads, a cable-stayed bridge, an arched “basket” bridge, ramps and tunnels.

Packages C & D connecting Mindspace Malad and Charkop are dedicated towards the construction of underground tunnels by two tunnel boring machines (TBMs), each with a diameter of 15.72m, which will make them the largest to be deployed in India. These are the 2 packages I’m most excited about.

Interestingly, Package B includes a 4.46 km connection to the 12.20 km Goregaon – Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, while Package E includes a roughly 80m tall observation tower in Charkop.

BMC had invited tenders for construction in August 2023 with a 4 year construction deadline. Each package received 3 bids each. MEIL submitted bids for 2 packages (C & D) as they specialize in tunneling, while the other 4 bidders submitted 4 bids each.

Package A (Versova to Bangur Nagar)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2593 crore
• Length: 4.54 km
• Chainage: Ch. 0+000 To Ch. 4+540
• Bidders: APCO Infratech, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) & J Kumar – NCC JV

Package B (Bangur Nagar to Mindspace Malad and GMLR Connector)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2910 crore
• Length: 6.12 km
• Chainage: Ch. 4+540 to Ch. 6+200 and GMLR Connector Ch. 0+000 to Ch. 4+460
• Bidders: Afcons Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) & J Kumar – NCC JV

Package C (Mindspace Malad to Charkop North Bound Tunnel)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2911 crore
• Length: 3.9 km
• Chainage: 6+200 to 10+100
• Bidders: Afcons Infrastructure, APCO Infratech & Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (MEIL)

Package D (Charkop to Mindspace Malad South Bound Tunnel)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2910 crore
• Length: 3.9 km
• Chainage: 11+000 to 7+100
• Bidders: Afcons Infrastructure, APCO Infratech & Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (MEIL)

Package E (Charkop to Gorai)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2990 crore
• Length: 3.78 km
• Chainage: 11+000+14+780
• Bidders: Afcons Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) & J Kumar – NCC JV

Package F (Gorai to Dahisar)

• Estimated Cost: Rs. 2612 crore
• Length: 3.69 km
• Chainage: 14+780 to 18+470
• Bidders: APCO Infratech, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) & J Kumar – NCC JV

The bids have now been sent for technical evaluation which will take a couple of months to complete. When that is done, the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders will be opened to reveal who’s the lowest bidder and most likely contractor for each package.

Although the project is referred to as a Coastal Road, there’s another parallel road planned further west along the actual coast known as Versova – Virar Sea-Link (VVSL). That expressway will be built as part of the Mumbai Coastal Road project and would be an overkill. I’d rather have funding for it allocated towards public transport.

For more updates, check out the Expressway section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG