Utility for floating bids in 3 months

With the Cabinet finalising the alignment for the Haji Ali-Nariman Point arm of the Western Freeway project on Thursday...

Haji Ali-Nariman Pt: Road development body to get environmental clearance,decide financial model

With the Cabinet finalising the alignment for the Haji Ali-Nariman Point arm of the Western Freeway project on Thursday,the officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation are looking to float tenders for the project in three months. The environmental clearance and the financial model for implementing the project are the hurdles before them.

The arm,the last phase of West ern Freeway project,will be a combination of a sea link,tunnel and shallow tunnel. We will start developing the project soon. The major part is that we have to get the environment clearance,for which we will be meeting officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forest next week, MSRDC acting vice-chairman and managing director Sonial Sethi said.

The government had on Thursday decided to construct a sea link from Haji Ali to Priyadarshini Park,a deep (drill and blast) tunnel via Malabar Hill to Tambe Chowk from there and a cut-and-cover tunnel from Tambe Chowk to Nariman Point.

The financial model for the 10.9-km extension of the Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link is yet to be finalised. The Haji Ali-Nariman Point arm is expected to cost between Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 6,500 crore. Weve to do an intelligent financial structuring so that it (project cost) puts little burden on the government. Structurally too,weve to decide whether we would link it with II-A (Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link).

Meanwhile,the government is yet to issue a letter of acceptance to the concessionaire.

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