The Rs19,500 crore Metro project in the city is on track with the MMRDA all set to invite global bids for the second corridor on Sunday.
MMRDA says viability gap funding is not a problem if the Centre backs out
MUMBAI: The Rs19,500 crore Metro project in the city is on track with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority all set to invite global bids for the second corridor, the 31.87km long Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd route, on Sunday.
Interested bidders will be given pre-qualification documents for the Rs6,192 crore project on March 1, which they will have to submit by April 2.
Approved by the state government last September, this mass rapid transit system will be undertaken on the Build-Own-Operate Transfer (BOOT) basis through a public-private partnership and is expected to be completed by 2011.
The MMRDA will have 26 per cent equity in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) while the state government will bear the capital contribution (viability gap) of Rs1,658 crore for the project. The SPV shall operate the corridor for 30 years apart from the five-year construction period.
The second corridor will connect the western and eastern suburbs through an elevated route with 27 stations. The route will start at Charkop and go via Link Road and then Linking Road up to Bandra. Crossing the Western Railway line and the Western Express Highway, the line will move eastwards along the main road of the Bandra-Kurla Complex, crossing Lal Bahadur Shastri Road and HD Barve Road before ending at Mankhurd.
On the pending sanction of Rs650 crore for the viability gap funding by the Centre for the 12km first corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar, T Chandrashekhar, metropolitan commissioner, told DNA, “Our proposal is with the Union Cabinet and we are waiting for the approval. But if it does not happen, we will pitch in the funds ourselves.”
Responding to the Shiv Sena’s demand that running of the Mumbai Metro be handed over to the BEST, Chandrashekhar said, “We told them to put some equity and be a partner in the new company, gain expertise of the new technology, and then decide. But BEST does not have funds and refused.”
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