The MMRDA and the MSRDC have locked horns for long over who should execute the mega project.
Putting to rest the controversy over the construction of the Sewri-Nhava Sheva sea link, also called the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) would go ahead with its construction.
The MMRDA and the MSRDC have locked horns for long over who should execute the mega project.
Chavan also said that a multi-lane road along the Metro rail has been proposed for the MTHL and it will be completed with the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport.
“The MMRDA would now go ahead and appoint consultants for its financial and engineering aspects and proceed with the project,” the chief minister informed the state council.
“The 22.5km-long bridge was much delayed due to technical difficulties. When the tenders were floated for the first time in 2008, two companies responded to it. But the financial gap between the two was huge and the process could not go further. Later in 2009, the government did not get any responses, probably due to a global recession,” he said.
He said the government was also keen on G2G projects (government to government projects) involving other countries as delegates from abroad had been meeting him expressing interest in upgrading the basic infrastructure in the country’s financial capital.
Meanwhile, MMRDA officials have already started preparing the ground work for the project. A database was being gathered and even discussions for the appointment of consultants were gathering momentum since the past few weeks.
According to the last presentation made by the authority before Chavan, the feasibility of the project was first initiated by MMRDA way back in 1992. “In July 1997, the project was handed over to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) which called for the first tenders on Build Operate Transfer (BoT) basis in 2004. It was some litigation which forced the corporation to cancel the tenders,” said the presentation.
Subsequently, the corporation called tenders in 2007, where the two Ambani brothers responded. Initially, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure was declared as a preferred bidder with a concession period of nine years, 11 months and one day. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries had, surprisingly, quoted a concession period of close to 75 years.
The MSRDC suffered major embarrassment a little later when it had to announce that the tendering process had to be cancelled due to unrealistic claims made by both the Reliance companies.
Following this, MMRDA was given the mandate to be the implementing agency for the project in February 2009.
However, MSRDC continued to be the executing agency and called for tenders on cash contract basis again. Despite a few companies buying the bid documents, none of them submitted their bids, bringing more embarrassment for MSRDC as well as the state government.
Finally, MMRDA top brass has been successful in getting the project out from MSRDC since the government wants the MTHL to be completed along with the new proposed airport in Navi Mumbai. Most MMRDA officials were not available for comments after the formal announcement was made on Thursday.
Chavan said the tendering process for the Navi Mumbai airport would take place in six months.
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