Work allocation for sea memorial in 10 days

The state government will decide on allocating work on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial in the Arabian Sea in around 10 days. Work on the statue, which will be the world's tallest, is expected to start in October.

MLC Vinayak Mete, who heads the committee monitoring the project, said three infrastructure majors had bid for it. While Reliance Infrastructure lost in the technical evaluation, Afcons and L&T had quoted Rs 4,779 crore and Rs 3,826 crore respectively for the first stage.

"We had estimated the first stage to cost Rs 2,300 crore but the lowest bid is at a much higher cost of Rs 3,826 crore. Hence, we have asked PWD officials and our consultants to examine the reasons for this discrepancy. If L&T agrees to negotiate, the project can be awarded to them," said Mete.

Mete said a decision about the project was likely to be taken in around 10 days. If the project is awarded to the lowest bidder, work is expected to start after the monsoon season.

The Shivaji Maharaj statue, 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. The state government wants the statue to be the tallest in the world by rising it to a staggering 210 meters against the proposed 192 meters. This may push up the costs from the present estimate of Rs 3,700 crore for the two phases.

It will have landscaped gardens, two jetties, library, helipad, medical amenities, amphitheatre and a museum.