Mumbai: The revised value of the contracts being executed by Milan Road Buildtech—the subcontractor involved in the Metro 4 slab collapse incident that led to the death of one person—to construct 19.91 km of the 32.32 km corridor is around 75% higher than the original bid submitted in 2018 by the Reliance Infrastructure-Astaldi SPA joint venture.
In November 2017, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had invited bids for the Metro 4 (Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali) corridor at an estimated cost of ₹14,549 crore. Excluding the car depot, the alignment was divided into five packages or civil contracts.
In April 2018, the Reliance Infrastructure-Astaldi SPA joint venture bagged three of these contracts with a combined bid of ₹1,584 crore and a 30-month completion deadline. However, according to details available on Milan Road Buildtech’s website, the value of the three packages it is executing totals ₹2,772.73 crore, a 75% increase over the original bid.
A senior MMRDA official said the project’s progress was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the deadline was revised to 2022. “Yet, since 2018, no significant work has happened. MMRDA directly engaged the subcontractor, Gujarat-based Milan Road Builtdtech, after obtaining the consortium’s clearance, and made payments directly. It was only from 2022 that the work on the ground got initiated after MMRDA served notices threatening to terminate the contracts,” the official said.
When HT contacted MMRDA officials regarding the revised costs of the Metro 4 project, there appeared to be no formally approved figure.
One of the officials maintained that the project cost is still ₹14,549 crore, as it was back in 2017. A second official admitted there was a 70-80% cost escalation, but did not share the revised amount. A third official explained that since the project was awarded, there have been multiple changes to the design and alignment.
“Earlier, the car depot was planned at Kanjurmarg, but the salt pan-related litigation meant there was no progress. Now, we have shifted the depot to Mogharpada in Thane,” the official said.
Shifting the car depot for the Metro 4 and 4A lines to Mogharpada in 2022 required changes to the route alignment at Kanjurmarg and along Ghodbunder Road. The alignment was also tweaked in 2018 in Ghatkopar, leading to a cost variation, officials said. However, the financial impact on MMRDA’s coffers is yet to be analysed and ascertained.
“A revised project cost has not been summed up and put before the executive and authority committees of MMRDA. Therefore, we are unaware of the exact hike in the project’s financials,” said one of the three MMRDA officials HT spoke to.
If costs have indeed escalated by 75% as of today, by the time the metro corridor is operational in the second half of 2026, they are likely to nearly double, officials said. The corridor comprises 32 stations and is projected to carry 1.34 million passengers daily by 2031.
On February 14, a parapet wall slab from the under-construction Metro 4 viaduct fell onto the LBS Road in Mulund West, crushing an autorickshaw and a car. One person was killed, and three others were injured. Officials said the slab had remained unstable for nearly 11 hours before it collapsed.
MMRDA has fined Milan Road Buildtech ₹5 crore in connection with the incident. The police have also arrested four executives of the Gujarat-based firm.