MMRDA stops Malaysian firm to bid for monorail operations

Citing poor maintenance, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has said it has made the Malaysia-based Scomi Engineering 'ineligible' from bidding for the operations of Chembur-Jacob Circle Monorail corridor that been in news ever since its inception in 2014 for frequent breakdowns.

The MMRDA has said that it has put certain terms and conditions that make the current operator Scomi Engineering 'ineligible' from bidding for operations of Monorail.

According to a senior MMRDA official, "We have kept some terms and conditions in the bid floated for appointment of a new Monorail operator, which automatically makes Scomi Engineering 'ineligible' from participating in the bidding process. The reason for the same is because Scomi Engineering has not maintained Mumbai Monorail in a satisfactory manner and we are not willing to have Scomi onboard for Monorail in the future."

The MMRDA had recently floated bids for the third time to appoint a new operator as the contract of the current operator is due in February 2018, wherein five companies including Scomi Engineering have now shown interest to run Monorail by participating in the pre-bid meeting.

The MMRDA official added, "We got a response from five companies including Scomi Engineering, showing interest in running the Monorail. Representatives of Scomi present at the pre bid meeting also requested to relax a few conditions to make them eligible for the bidding process. We have not taken a decision on relaxing these conditions but we are not in a mood to have Scomi onboard."

Another four companies that participated in the pre-bid meeting include Reliance Infrastructure, IL& FS, Singapore based SMRT Corporation and another named BVQ, MMRDA officials said.

Meanwhile, an email query sent to Scomi Engineering did not yield any response till the time of going to the press. A text messages sent to Stanislaus Roshan Anthonysamy, Scomi's representative in India also remained unanswered.

The first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala was made operational in 2014 but was temporarily suspended in November 2017 after an empty coach of Monorail caught fire.

Ever since the first phase of the Monorail was commissioned, it has been in the news for constant breakdowns in the rakes.