Bidder moves HC on Thane elevated road, twin-tunnel projects

Mumbai: Two tender processes for mega infrastructure projects in MMR—the Thane-Bhayander elevated road project which is the second-longest proposed flyover after Atal Setu, and a twin-tunnel project—were challenged before Bombay High Court on Monday.
Construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Ltd, one of the bidders, filed two separate petitions to challenge the Oct 7 deadline following what it claimed were last-minute significant technical changes to the tender clauses.It challenged the changes made to the bid document too by the project executor, MMRDA, claiming its timing was such that it would be eliminated from competition.
The tunnel project envisages 5km-long twin tunnels of 14.6 diameter for approximately Rs 8,000 crore and is to be the largest diameter tunnels to be built using tunnel boring machines (TBMs) in India and among the few largest TBM tunnels in the world, said the L&T plea.
Senior counsel A M Sanghvi and law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) for L&T sought urgent relief in the matter relating to the tunnels while senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas sought relief for the flyover project case. State Advocate General Birendra Saraf for MMRDA sought time to seek instructions, saying the petition was only served on it, Sunday night. But, on instructions from MMRDA, Saraf said the bids in both projects would not be opened till 4.30pm on Oct 8.
L&T, in the tunnel project, challenged the first ‘common set of deviations' issued on Oct 1, 2024, by MMRDA and further amendments issued on Oct 3 to the tender clauses of the tunnel Gaimukh to Fountain Hotel for design and construction of the underground road tunnel on the Thane Ghodbunder Road.
The firm said the submission deadline for bids was not extended beyond Oct 7 to provide bidders reasonable time to factor in the many "significant amendments'' made to the tender documents. The petition said the "power or discretion" of MMRDA in the award of tenders must be "confined and structured by rational, relevant and non-discriminatory standards" and any departure from such norms would render the authorities' action liable to be struck down. HC division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit adjourned the matter to Oct 8.