Worli - Haji Ali Sea Link : Bids opened

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance consortium has taken the lead in the bidding war for the Worli-Haji Ali stretch of the Bandra-Nariman Point link by quoting a sum of Rs 1,392 crore for the viability gap funding. This is over Rs 1,000 crore less than the sum quoted by the Hindustan Construction Company-led consortium. The bids were opened at the MSRDC office on Wednesday. MSRDC managing director Satish Gavai said it would take a week for their consultants to scrutinise the bids and send a name to the cabinet for approval. “We will declare the winner after that.” The Worli-Haji Ali stretch would not have cable-stayed bridges like the Bandra-Worli link. Government engineers said the winner would take about three to four months to finalise the details of the construction before the final plans were passed. “Work on the link will start only in October,’’ one of them said.