MUMBAI: Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL) has awarded contracts worth Rs 7,796 to L&T and HCC for construction of underground stations and metro lines for the 33.5 km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz corridor.

The corporation awarded a Rs 2,523-crore contract to Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and its joint venture firm MMS, for construction of 4,072 meter corridor of the underground metro line, including four underground stations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalbadevi, Girgaon and Grant Road and twin bored tunnels of total length of 3,115 m.

It has also awarded a Rs 5,273-crore contract to Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the scope of which includes design and construction of underground stations and associated tunnels for package-1 and package-7 of the Metro III project.

L&T will have to construct underground stations at Cuffe Parade, Vidhan Bhavan, Church Gate, Hutatma Chowk with associated tunnels from Cuffe Parade to CST for package-1 and underground stations at Marol Naka, MIDC and SEEPZ with associated tunnels from International Airport to SEEPZ for package-7.

While the contract awarded to HCC is expected to be completed in 55 months, L&T's work is scheduled to be completed in 48 months.

These contracts are a part of the Rs 23,136 crore project. MMRC had received bids from nine consortia for the project, which will be developed in seven packages.

The nine consortia include Afcons Infrastructure- Kyivmetrobud, Continental Engineering Corporation-ITD Cementation India-Tata Projects, DOGUS-SOMA, IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company-China Railway 25th Bureau Group, J Kumar Infraprojects-China Railway No.3 Engineering Group, L&T- Shanghai Tunnel Engineering, OSJC Moscow Metrostroy-Hindustan Construction, Pratibha Industries-Guandong Yuantian Engineering and Unity Infraprojects-IVRCL-China Railway Tunnel Group.

The Colaba-Seepz metro will comprise 27 stations, of which 26 will be underground and one at the Aarey Colony, Goregaon, will be at the ground level.

The corridor is expected to be completed by FY20 and carry 13.9 lakh commuters daily by 2021 and 17 lakh by 2031.