Kolkata: Afcons Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of Shapoorji Pallonji group, has bagged a Rs 938-crore contract from Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC) for a critical stretch of the Rs 4,678-crore East-West Metro that includes three underground stations and a section under the river Hooghly.

This is the first time that a transportation tunnel running 20 metre below a river will be built in India. Mumbai-based Afcons, which recently completed a job for the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation, grabbed the contract through competitive bidding. Others in the fray included Senbo-Shanghai Urban, CEC-Simplex , IVRCL and L&T . KMRC is a joint venture between West Bengal government and union urban development ministry.

Afcons Infrastructure will design and execute the project dubbed “UG 1” through a recently formed strategic JV with a Russian company Transtonnelstroy. The Transtonnelstroy Afcons JV is slated to construct a 3.89-km stretch, including 520 metres of the underwater section and three underground stations at Howrah Maidan, Howrah station and Mahakaran, within a period of 42 months. The Russian company experience of working on similar projects in Iran to build a road under the sea. Incidentally, Afcons is also bidding for upcoming Chennai Metro projects with its Russian partner.

“For the underwater stretch, we’ve tied up with Atkins, a Dubai-based company which is a leading consultant for underwater tunneling,”R V Ramanan director (transporatation) of Afcons said.

Incidentally, Atkins which has worked on the Dubai Metro will also assist Afcons to monitor and study the impact of tunnelling on the buildings and structure above ground. Mr Ramanan director (transportation) of Afcons signed the agreement for the project with KMRC officials on Saturday.