5 companies in race for Vizag Metro Rail project

Reportedly, five Indian companies have participated in the first stage bidding process invited by Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (AMRC) for the 43 km long Vizag Metro Rail (VMR) project.

The following firms have submitted bids for the Request for Qualification (RfQ) :

1. Adani Enterprises Limited, Gurgaon
2. TRIL Urban Transport Private Limited, Mumbai
3. Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Private Limited, Mumbai
4. ESSEL Infraprojects Limited, Mumbai
5. IL&FS Rail Limited, Mumbai

All these companies will be scrutinized and accordingly shortlisted by the AMRC, along with the State Government, after which, a notification will be given to the shortlisted companies for the Request for Proposal (RfP), which will be the final invitation for the Rs 8,800 crore project.

As reported by TOI, Mr N P Ramakrishna Reddy, Managing Director (AMRC), said, “We will take at least a month to thoroughly study their bid documents before shortlisting the eligible firms for further notification of RFP. We hope all these five would be shortlisted for the RFP, which will be invited in April this year. The receipt of RFP proposals from the firms and the selection of a suitable developer is proposed to be completed in another five months.”

Mr Reddy also clarified by saying, that the firms need not have experience in taking up metro rail projects for submitting bids in RfQ or RfP. He, however, added that the companies must be experienced in handling any giant project in the PPP model.

He also said that participation of such big companies, at the RFQ stage, shows that PPP is a very viable model. Mr Reddy added that he, and the team, is very confident that the Vizag Metro Project will be quite successful.