New impetus to transport plans

With UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi calling for expediting infrastructure projects in the city during the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link...

With UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi calling for expediting infrastructure projects in the city during the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link,the state government has swung into action to chalk out a new financial model for the 22.5-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL).

The government had put off the Sewri and Nhava sea link project after 13 companies,which had evinced interest in it,failed to submit bids. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is now reworking its financial model. The MTHL has not been shelved. We are revising the financial model after we failed to get any bids owing to economic slowdown. We have submitted a proposal for the new model,which will be discussed and approved in the Cabinet Committee for Infrastructure, Vimal Mundada,Minister for Public Works Department (public undertaking),told Newsline.

Earlier in June 2008,the government had rejected the build-operate-transfer model,which Reliance Infrastructure Ltd was likely to win. The government had termed the bid unrealistic and scrapped it to opt for a cash contract,but this did not attract any bidders. According to S B Nage,chief engineer,MSRDC,the new model is similar to the earlier BOT model. This will also be a public-private partnership model. The difference will be that the government will decide on the concession period as to for how many years the concessionaire can collect toll on the bridge.

For instance,if the government finalises a 40-year concession period,the bidder can quote for the government grant if it feels the period is not enough to recover the construction cost.

The eight-lane sea link,which is estimated to cost around Rs 6,000 crore,is proposed to begin from the Messant Road on the eastern side of Sewri railway station on Harbour Line and meet the mainland near Shivaji Nagar. It is proposed to terminate on National Highway 4B at Chirle in Navi Mumbai.

The proposed sea link offers to cut short the distance between the two locations by 15 km and reduce travel time from more than two hours to around 30 minutes. According to MSRDC sources,the proposed MTHL could also be a cable-stayed bridge like the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.

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