Water transport in Mumbai, a damp squib again

The state government’s ambitious plan to set up a passenger water transport system along the city’s west coast was left out in the sea again on Monday when only one bidder expressed interest in the project. In the pipeline for decades, the project envisages an alternate ferry-based route from Borivli to Nariman Point.

The sole bid received by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the nodal agency for the project, came from a consortium led by Pratibha Industries Limited, a road infrastructure company with a net worth of over Rs300 crore. The other partners are Kakade Group, a Pune-based real estate developer, and Inai Kiara Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s premier dredging company, which will provide the technical support.

MSRDC’s vice chairman Sonia Sethi said she was not surprised by the response considering the magnitude of the infrastructure project. “In fact, to boost response, we had even amended a few bid conditions, like the appointment of the ferry operator, which allows the successful bidder to hire a ferry operator at a later stage, instead of having one as an equity partner while bidding for the project,” said Sethi.

The other four pre-qualified bidders, however, blame the poor response on MSRDC’s refusal to address their concerns on ‘objectionable’ bid conditions despite holding a pre-bid meeting
for the umpteenth time on June 8.

Mohan Shah of Four Seasons, a pre-qualified bidder, said that MSRDC is allowing bidders to appoint ferry operators with work experience of just one year. “You need vessels with a capacity of 200 to 300 passengers, and a speed of 35 knots, for which one year’s experience is not enough. It will put the lives of passengers in danger,” Shah said.