Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s recent two-nation tour has given a boost to the Maharashtra Samruddhi Corridor, with South Korea extending a Rs 35,000-crore loan to the state government. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Bhushan Gagrani, vice-chairman and MD of MSRDC, who was also a part of the high-level delegation, said, “Based on the recommendation sent by the Union government, the South Korean government has agreed to provide a loan of Rs 35,000 crore for the project to the state government. Besides, we are also in talks with Indian banks for providing us soft loan so that the project doesn’t get hampered.” Meanwhile, several South Korean companies have also shown interest in bidding for the Rs 46,000-crore project. However, Gagrani clarified that irrespective of the loan, no special consideration will be made for these companies. “The CM has clarified that even if we receive a loan from South Korea, their companies will not receive preferential treatment in the bidding process and they will have to follow the same procedure,” said Gagrani. The preparation of the final Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be taken up after the negotiations between Korea and MSRDC are completed and will take another four to five months. MSRDC officials also informed that the construction of the Nagpur-Mumbai Super-communication Expressway will begin early next year. “By December end, we should have purchased 75 per cent of the total land required for the project and by January 2018, we will begin construction. We should complete it in 30 months, that is June 2020. We have a record of completing all our projects within 27 to 28 months,” said Kiran Kurundkar, Joint MD of MSRDC. After failing to attract takers for their land pooling model, the state has now acquired 603.54 hectares of land through direct purchase paying Rs 4,704 crore and has also received consent for another 2,750 hectares of land from 5,644 farmers. Also present at the conference, PWD Minister Eknath Shinde said, “We have started the bidding process simultaneously and will be in a position to award the contract in three months so that the work to construct the Expressway begins on time and we achieve our target.” “The landholders who were earlier sceptical on giving their consent for the project, are now voluntarily coming forward to offer their land for the project. The highest ever compensation being offered and the RTGS mode of paying the same has helped in changing their perspective. The state government will ensure that the Expressway gets completed in time and the people witness the all-round development in Vidarbha, north Maharashtra and Marathwada regions,” he added.
