Talks on to award MTHL contract by third quarter next yr

“MMRDA is willing to take the revenue risk by helping the BOT (build-operate-transfer) operator if traffic is below projected (levels),” Asthana said,adding that if the traffic is more than what was projected,MMRDA will also seek a share of the revenue pie.

“We are also considering compensating bidders for the cost of bidding to encourage more companies to bid and are confident that we will get a lot of bidders,” Asthana said. He reiterated that the MMRDA is looking at providing soft loans of a long tenure to the BOT operator to make the project more developer friendly.

It will take some time for the contract to be awarded as many prospective bidders have indicated they will take some time to prepare the bid,Asthana said.

In June 2008,bids submitted by the Ambani brothers had been found unrealistic. The Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure had then recommended scrapping the public-private-partnership model and executing the project on a cash contract basis. As many as 13 companies had showed interest,but did not submit bids.

The 22-km MTHL will be a six-lane road bridge connecting Sewri and Nhava with provisions for two lanes for a Metro line. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation was handling the project initially,but the mandate was later handed over to the MMRDA.

Earlier this month,the MMRDA said it had appointed a consortium of Arup Consulting Engineers and KPMG to conduct a techno-economic feasibility study for the project. The consortium is expected to complete the study by October next year.

Asthana also disclosed the planned completion dates for a few of the other important transport infrastructure projects under the MMRDA. The first Metro line,the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor,will be completed by the third quarter of the next year,while the first phase of the Monorail will be finished by the second quarter,he said.

The MMRDA also expects to complete the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road,which lead to the resettlement of 2,885 residential,about 370 commercial and 34 religious structures,by the fourth quarter of next year,while the agency’s work on the Sahar elevated road will be completed by February or March next year after rehabilitating about 700 project-affected families.

“The total infrastructure projects being undertaken by the MMRDA amount to over Rs 26,000 crore,” Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said. “Another important project we wish to undertake is the coastal road project,but don’t know about the environmental clearance and are trying very hard for it .”

The CM also said the state government has taken a very serious view of potholes on newly constructed roads and road overbridges and expects the situation to improve substantially next year.