MMRDA to Extend Bid Deadline for Thane-Mira Bhayander Projects by 60 Days: Bombay HC

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the deadline for bidding on two projects costing Rs 16, 577 crore linking Thane and Mira-Bhayander would be extended by 60 days.

One of the projects connects Thane and Mira Bhayander via a tunnel from Gaimukh to the Fountain Hotel intersection at Shilphata, while the other is an elevated creek road bridge that connects Bhayander to Ghodbunder Road in Thane.

Responding to Larsen and Toubro Limited’s (L&T) challenge to the tendering procedure, the MMRDA noted that during the 60-day extension period, the petitioner and other bidders may submit amended bids after conducting their geotechnical investigations or surveys.

In light of the MMRDA’s announcement, L&T withdrew its petitions, which claimed that the bid deadline was rushed without disclosing geo-technological data due to the code of conduct for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar was hearing two L&T petitions, alleging that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) lacked geotechnical data for the bridge and that bidders were burdened with collecting the data in a short period.

The firm stated that gathering such information on its own would take at least 30-60 days. It stated that the requirement to submit the offer by October 7 with such data was arbitrary.

In the pre-lunch session on Monday, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Zal Andhyarujina for L&T argued that deferring the bridge tendering process to allow bidders to conduct geotechnical investigations will benefit the public interest and have no negative impact.

The judgment further stated that the authority’s move to eliminate the clause for the provision of data lacked justification and deprived bidders of the same. In a post-lunch session, when Advocate General Birendra Saraf stated the authority’s directives to extend the bid submission period by 60 days, the L&T sought to withdraw the pleas, which the panel granted.

Source: The Indian Express

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