Only one construction company, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), has submitted a bid for a proposed flyover between the Metropolitan crossing on EM Bypass and Mahisbathan near New Town, sources in the state government said.

The company was the lone bidder in the second call of the tender for the flyover construction, which will be 7.1km-long with all its ramps.

Two bidders participated in the tender’s first call. No one can be selected for a project if there are fewer than three bidders.

The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the project’s executing agency, will seek the state finance department’s opinion on whether L&T can be awarded the contract for the construction of the flyover.

“L&T is the only bidder. They have quoted a significantly higher price than the assessed project cost. We will send the matter to the state finance department and seek its opinion,” state urban development minister Firhad Hakim said on Wednesday last week.

Hakim is also the chairperson of the KMDA, which functions under the urban development department.

The flyover, a part of which will run over the East Kolkata Wetlands, will reduce the commuting time to and from Sector V and New Town.

Long queues of vehicles and snarls are common on Salt Lake Bypass every evening when the number of vehicles on the road witness a spike with people returning home from their offices in Sector V and New Town.

The flyover will also open a new route for airport-bound vehicles.

According to the tender document, the construction must be completed within 18 months of the start of the work.

The four-lane main flyover will be 5.99km-long. The main flyover will start from the Metropolitan crossing, take a right turn from the Chingrighata intersection, run over Salt Lake Bypass and parts of Sector V (over Ring Road), and cross a stretch of the wetlands before ending in Mahisbathan.

The flyover will have one “up-ramp” near Nalban for vehicles from Sector V and a second on Salt Lake Ring Road.

There will be a “down-ramp” at College More for vehicles headed to Sector V.

The company to be awarded the project will be responsible for the flyover’s maintenance for five years after it becomes operational.

Earlier this year, the state public works department was named the implementing agency for the project. It was later replaced by the KMDA.

The project has come under criticism from environmental activists who oppose the design and the alignment as some of the pillars will rise from the ecologically fragile East Kolkata Wetlands.