A train running along the Purple Line of the Bengaluru Metro.
Credit: DH File Photo
Chennai: As many as 11 firms, including L&T Infrastructure Engineering and Tata Consulting Engineers, have submitted bids before the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL) for preparing the feasibility study for South India’s first inter-state metro connecting the industrial hub of Hosur with Bommasandra in Bengaluru.
CMRL had on August 1 floated a tender inviting consultants for preparing the feasibility report of the 20.5 km long corridor connecting Hosur with Bommasandra to examine and recommend alignment, nature of the mass rapid transit system, ridership, and construction costs.
Sources said L&T Infrastructure Engineering, Tata Consulting Engineers, Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka), RITES, and Srei Infrastructure Finance are among the 11 companies that have submitted bids.
“We received 11 applications in total and our team is currently evaluating the technical bids. Once the evaluation of the financial bids are done, we will award the tender,” M A Siddique, Principal Secretary/Managing Director, CMRL, told DH.
The consultant will begin its work within two months of award of the tender, Siddique said, adding that the feasibility study will take another six months to be completed.
The evaluation of technical bids by CMRL officials is currently underway and will completed in a few days’ time following which the financial bids will be taken up for a detailed analysis. Once the process is over, the bid will be awarded to the successful firm.
The proposed stretch will be 20.5 km long of which 11.7 kilometres falls in Karnataka, while the remaining 8.8 km is in Tamil Nadu, which will fund the feasibility study. Tamil Nadu government believes metro connectivity between Hosur and Bengaluru will further fuel the growth of the industrial town, which is home to over 2,000 MSMEs.
The tender was issued five months after the Union Government approved the conduct of a feasibility study in February this year.
While the feasibility study will be funded 100 per cent by the Tamil Nadu government, the funding pattern of the Metro network is yet to be decided.
The Karnataka Government had in 2022 written to MoHUA giving its concurrence for the project which will help thousands of people to travel between Hosur and Bengaluru without much hassle. Following this, the Tamil Nadu government asked CMRL to carry out the feasibility study by sanctioning Rs 75 lakh for the purpose.
The feasibility study comes at a time the Tamil Nadu government is mulling launching air connectivity from Hosur.