Ambedkar memorial: After poor response, MMRDA to invite fresh bids

The bids for the 350-foot memorial were first floated on Ambedkar Jayanti, April 14, this year. However, two months later, the MMRDA postponed the dates for sale of tender documents as the masterplan for the project was not ready.

After failing to get sufficient bids for the construction of the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial on Indu Mills land, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to invite fresh tenders. “We will soon be inviting bids again for the project as we received only one bid in the last call. If again we receive the same bidder then we will finalise the company,” confirmed Pravin Darade, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

In a review meeting of infrastructure projects in the city with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, it was estimated that the work order for the project will be issued by November 15.

The bids for the 350-foot memorial were first floated on Ambedkar Jayanti, April 14, this year. However, two months later, the MMRDA postponed the dates for sale of tender documents as the masterplan for the project was not ready.

“The last date for submitting bids was October 24 and the bids were opened on October 27. However, there was only one response and according to the procedure we will have to go for re-tendering,” said a senior MMRDA official.

To be constructed on 12 acres on Indu Mills land in Dadar, the memorial’s designs have been prepared by architectural firm Shashi Prabhu and Associates. In a meeting between MMRDA officials and the firm Tuesday, it was discussed that the conditions will not be diluted in the second call. “Diluting the conditions will not be fair on the company that applied in the first call. The poor response could be because not many companies have previous experience of constructing such memorials,” said Shashi Prabhu of the architectural firm.