Japanese agency to finance trans-harbour link

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, top state officials and the office-bearers of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Project (MTHL) connecting Sewri with Nhava in Navi Mumbai. JICA, an independent Japanese governmental agency, has shown keen interest in financing the project, and according to sources, the loan agreement might be signed by the end of this year.

After the meeting, Fadnavis said, "JICA will finance the MTHL project. Had a fruitful discussion with them."

The JICA team is likely to meet the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials on Thursday to discuss finer details of the project, such as implementation schedule, design, engineering aspect and so on. "It is possible that the loan agreement with JICA might be signed by the end of this year," said MMRDA Commissioner UPS Madan.

Another MMRDA official said JICA is likely to provide up to 80 per cent of the project cost as loan. The 22-km bridge is estimated to cost Rs 11,000 crore in all. The JICA team had begun the social and environment impact assessment studies for the project a month ago and the reports will be ready soon.

In the past, multiple attempts to connect Mumbai and Navi Mumbai through the sea have failed. Earlier, the MMRDA wanted the project to be implemented on Public-Private Partnership basis but did not get favourable response. In the end, it had to changed the financial model for the project.