22.4.09

Sewri-Nhava link may get delayed


Construction work on the Rs 7,000 crore trans-harbour project to connect Sewri with Nhava through a 22-km sealink is now expected to be taken up only next year. Thus, the project that was opened for bidding in 2005 has now been pushed into its record fifth year of delay. The project has been delayed by a year because of the problems thrown up by sudden changes in policy adopted by the state administration on how to implement the project. Added to this was the inability of the government officials in-charge to anticipate current global market trends, and also the code of conduct for the ongoing parliamentary and future assembly elections slated to come up by this year-end. The sealink was first planned as a government financed project in 2003-2004 but was later changed to a build-operate-transfer (BOT) one when its cost went beyond the state’s capacity. The bids floated on BOT basis, however, got caught in the crossfire between the rival Ambani companies that went to the court. After the court settled the dispute, the bids of both the brothers were rejected, terming them ‘impractical’ proposals to implement. The government then stepped in again and decided to execute the project with its own money (MMRDA’s) but not a single firm came forward to build the bridge earlier this year because of the government’s reluctance to pay a part of the contract amount in foreign exchange. The forex was needed to pay for foreign consultancy fees and materials. Also, most of the Indian companies that had bid had multinational partners who later did not turn up. Even though the MSRDC will now execute the project, MMRDA will fund the government share for it to become the owner of the sealink. Now, the state’s decision to go with the BOT contract seems to have firmed up with it retrenching four or five engineers who were hired for implementing the project on a cash-contract basis.Senior officials in the MSRDC said that it had again decided to fall back on the BOT model. However, since the switchback needs the state cabinet’s approval, MMRDA will have to wait for the code of conduct to get lifted. Getting the tenders ready takes a minimum of six months but with assembly polls ahead, the actual implementation of the project may start only next year. The project has been in the making for over three decades after being pushed first by the Tatas and later Dhirubhai Ambani.

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