Decks cleared for price negotiations with lowest bidder of Shivaji Maharaj memorial

In a push for the stalled project to construct a statue of warrior-king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the Arabian Sea, a high-power committee under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has cleared the decks for price negotiations with the lowest bidder.

The Shivaji Maharaj memorial, which has a 36-month completion period, will come up on a 15.96 hectare rocky basalt outcrop in the Arabian Sea 1.2 km south west of Raj Bhawan and once completed, will be the world's tallest statue.

Despite being one of the showpiece projects of the state government, it had been stalled over cost concerns as the lowest bid received for it exceeded the state government's estimates. The state government is eager to get the project, the foundation stone for which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2016, off the ground soon considering the Lok Sabha and state assembly polls scheduled in 2019.

On Saturday, Fadnavis appointed a committee of senior state government officials to negotiate with the lowest bidder L&T.

Legislator Vinayak Mete, who heads the committee monitoring the project, told DNA that once the committee submitted it's report, the state could either decide on going ahead with the revised costs or re-tender it. However, re-tendering, which may involve spilling the contract into smaller works like reclamation and statue construction, may delay the project further, admitted sources.

Mete said a five-member committee under chief secretary Sumit Mullick would negotiate with the lowest bidder. "They will negotiate with the company in 15 days and report to the high power committee under the chief minister," he added.

Three infrastructure majors had bid for the construction of the memorial and statue of the warrior-king. Though the state expected the first phase to cost Rs 2,300 crore, Afcons and L&T had quoted Rs 4,779 crore and Rs 3,826 crore respectively. Reliance Infrastructure lost in the technical evaluation. Officials admitted to a huge discrepancy between their estimates and the actual bids received.

The statue will be made of a bronze alloy to withstand the saline marine environment, corrosion and wind pressure. An area of around 10 hectare will be developed on the rock for the memorial and facilities in two phases.

The state wants the statue to rise to 210 meters so that it is two meters taller than the Spring Temple Buddha in China's Henan province, which is the world's tallest statue. The hill on which the statue of Vairocana Buddha is built was reshaped to increase its height to 208 meters.

The memorial of the warrior-king will have amenities like landscaped gardens, two jetties, library, helipad, medical facilities, amphitheater and museum.

The project has been pending for almost 15 years and critics have apprehensions about if these funds could be put to better use like in social schemes.

MID-SEA PROJECT

• The memorial, which has a 36-month completion period, will come up on a 15.96 hectare rocky basalt outcrop in the Arabian Sea 1.2 km south west of Raj Bhawan