Hyderabad, January 28: The state government has selected M/s Louis Berger Consulting Pvt Ltd, a US based consultancy company as the independent engineer for the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.
From a list of six pre-qualified consultancy companies, two companies M/s Louis Berger and M/s Mott MacDonald Pvt Ltd had got qualified at the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage with their financial offers of Rs 83.60 crore and Rs 93.89 crore respectively.
The consultancy contract cost of Rs 83.60 crore will be shared equally by HMR and the concessionaire L&T.
The selection was based on the recommendations of a three-member committee consisting of Finance Secretary T Satyanarayana Rao, Hyderabad Metro Rail MD NVS Reddy and Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) managing director M Jagadeeshwar. The selection was delayed by more than one-and-half months.
The role of the independent engineer will be to check the designs and drawings submitted by the concessionaire L&T and give its technical recommendations for construction activities.They will inspect and monitor the quality of construction works, test the coaches and various other components of the metro rail system at every stage and will assist HMR to ensure that the system is built as per the prescribed technical specifications, performance criteria and safety standards.
They will also assist the authority in resolution of disputes.
The consultancy contract is for the entire construction period of five years.
NVS Reddy has stated that the consultancy team of Louis Berger is headed by John Carrington, a metro rail expert with four decades of experience in London, Bangkok, Budapest and other metros. Paul Bhaumik with four decades of metro rail experience and who worked on many metro rail systems is the deputy team leader.
–Agencies