None of the seven consortiums shortlisted for the Maharashtra government's flagship project, the Rs 6,200-crore second phase of the Mumbai Metro, participated in the financial bids that closed on Friday.

Sources familiar with the developments said the government has fixed March 16 as the new date for submission of bids.

"The reason for asking more time could be the prevailing economic slowdown. They sought at least one more month to submit the bids," a Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority official said.

The government estimated the cost of the 32.7-km elevated line at Rs 7,660 crore, which was considered very low by several bidders. Many bidders estimated the project cost at around Rs 12,000 crore.

The seven consortiums, which were short-listed for the project, included Anil Ambani-led Reliance Energy [Get Quote], which has bagged the contract for the phase-I of the Metro, and joined hands with Canadian firm SNC Lavalin for the second stretch.

The Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries [Get Quote] is bidding with Siemens and Gammon [Get Quote]. The other  consortia, which are in the race, include GE India-L&T-CA-IDPL, Tata Power-Mitsubishi-Tata Realty's Pioneer Infrastructure, GVK-Bombardier-YTL, IL&FS-Soma Constructions-Punj Lloyd, and Essar-Alstom.

The bids for Metro phase II started in mid-2007. The original bid was to open on December 16 extended to January and thereafter to February 13.

Several bidders had then asked for extension as the date for submission of bids was too short.

An MMRDA official said global recession could be the reason behind bidders not coming forward as all the consortiums had foreign partners and had been hit badly.

But the second line project was still attractive as it was projected to have the highest passenger traffic growth among all the corridors and viability gap financing was assured directly by the central government, he claimed.

MMRDA has also received about 8,000 objections and suggestions from residents against the proposed elevated line from Charkop to Mankhurd in the suburbs. They have demanded that an underground line should replace the elevated corridor along the congested Linking Road in Bandra, Khar and Santacruz to prevent inconvenience.