MTHL Update

The trans-harbour sea-link between Sewri-Nhava Sheva will not have a rail component.The funding and construction of the eight-lane, 22-km long trans-harbour link between Sewri and Nhava costing nearly Rs 7,600 crore were finally decided.In a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure, it was decided that the MMRDA would arrange for the funds and the plan would be implemented by the MSRDC. The state government had three options. The first involved the MSRDC raising the funds and implementing the project. The second option was for the MSRDC to implement the project with the MMRDA raising the funds. The third was to give a contract for the construction to another party. Pointing out that the MMRDA has a huge budget and it should not be a problem for the authority to arrange for funds, the state public works minister (public undertaking) Anil Deshmukh said.It will take five years for the project to be operational, he added. Following the feud between Mukesh Ambani and brother Anil, which was causing further delaying the project, the state decided to implement it on its own. Besides this, the cost of construction escalated from Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,600 crore as the government made changes in the plan. Earlier, it was decided to have six lanes, but according to the new proposal the project will have eight lanes.