Wanted MMRDA to take over Monorail operations: Scomi

MMRDA's claims of terminating its contract with Monorail operator over poor performance are unlikely to go uncontested. It has come to light that the operator had already indicated to the state infra body to take over the operations of the transit system.

Monorail operator LTSE – a joint venture between Larsen and Toubro Limited and Scomi Group BHD (SGB) – felt that it had completed its contractual obligation, says the 2018 annual report of SGB made public in August. Earlier this month, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) snapped ties with LTSE.

"LTSE is of the opinion that LTSE has completed its contractual obligation to run the Operations and Maintenance for 3 years in February 2017. Through a mutual agreement with the Client [MMRDA], LTSE continued to run the O&M since then with the understanding that the Client will be appointing a new contractor for O&M."

It goes on to say, "Although the Client has floated tenders several times, it has not received an encouraging response and to date a contractor is yet to be appointed. SGB has also expressed its interest to the Client [MMRDA] to take on the responsibility for the O&M, however, this is still subject to consideration by the Client."

The Chembur-Wadala Monorail operations have been hit by technical snags ever since it was commissioned in February 2014. The operations were suspended in November 2017 following a fire on two coaches of a train.

Since last year, MMRDA's attempts to appoint a new operator have come to naught. Earlier, it floated bids for the Chembur-Wadala and the proposed Wadala-Mahalaxmi corridors for 10 years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. While two parties showed interest, they quoted higher than the figure set by MMRDA.

Also, according to their understanding, LTSE was to operate and maintain Monorail for three years after its commissioning. LTSE says it completed three years in February 2017 considering the first phase was made operational in February 2014 between Chembur and Wadala. But MMRDA says the time period is for the entire route between Chembur and Mahalaxmi.

An MMRDA official said, "How can one say their contract was completed? LTSE was yet to repair the non-functional trains and get five more trains manufactured from Malaysia."

On December 14, MMRDA took over Monorail operations after terminating the contract with LTSE. It cited a host of issues, including 'persistently disregarding instructions', failure to start the second phase and failure to supply the balance five trains to back its decision. Currently, ten trains are in India of which only four are functional.