Contract terms for sea link toll collection revised

To increase comfort for bidders,MSRDC has changed the nature of the contract from a securitised toll collection deal on a yearly upfront basis to a contract on monthly-upfront payment to MSRDC.

As per the original contract,MSRDC would have received about Rs 240 crore over three years with the yearly-upfront payment for the first year being at least Rs 72 crore. Under the current contract,the contractor will pay an upfront sum every month amounting to Rs 265 crore for three years.

MSRDC has also lowered the eligibility criteria by making it mandatory for the bidder to have managed toll collection of a 12-lane highway for any one year in the past seven years. The earlier condition was that the bidder should have this experience for at least two projects in the past seven years.

Similarly,MSRDC has toned down its requirements for the bidding company’s annual turnover from the original Rs 350 crore in any of the last three years to Rs 120 crore,and for its networth from Rs 80 crore to about Rs 60 crore,an MSRDC official said.

“Terms of the contract have been changed to get healthier competition. With a monthly-upfront collection contract,bidders will not have to invest a lot at once and getting a bank loan will become easier. It will also be better for MSRDC. If there is a decision on the Worli-Haji Ali sea link soon,we can easily terminate the contract and securitise toll collections for a longer duration and use the funds for building the next arm,” said a senior MSRDC official.

The official added that MSRDC has insisted on a bank guarantee of 12 months to ensure that the agency is not at a loss even if the company,which wins the toll collection contract this time,deserts it mid-way.

MEPL has been collecting toll on the 5.6-km Bandra-Worli sea link on a weekly-upfront basis ever since it was opened to traffic in 2009. The company is owned by Jayant Mhaiskar,brother of IRB Infrastructure’s managing director Virandra Mhaiskar. The contract was to expire on March 31,2013,due to which MSRDC had called for bids to maintain the sea link and manage toll collections earlier this year. However,its efforts drew a blank with just two bids,one from MEPL and the other from Konark Infrastructure,of which the latter could not qualify.

manasi.phadke@expressindia.com