24.11.11

MTHL update



Maharashtra state government officials, who are preparing “sweetners” to make the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) project more attractive to bidders, have agreed to allow a sum of Rs 200 to be levied as a single toll fee for motorists who use the bridge. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner Rahul Asthana said the “sweetners” were necessary to ensure that the project, slated to cost Rs 8,800 crore, will go through successfully. Asthana has even held talks with the state government on the issue. Asthana said that they have held preliminary talks with CIDCO for giving 10 hectares of land to the developer in a long lease basis, so that the developer can make up some of the costs of the project. The MMRDA commissioner is pushing hard for the project, with a meeting with potential bidders scheduled on December 14. The shortlisting of the bidders is expected to be done by March next year. Asthana said that the MMRDA would exercise control over the aesthetics and structural stability of the bridge. Civic circles have said that the government’s concern over making the project successful was well-founded, as the project had failed to get off the ground twice in the past. Asthana pointed out that the link was a large and complex project, which would require large firms to join and form cartels in order to compete the bridge, which would be built on a Public-Private Partnership. The bridge is slated to be 22 km long, with a 16.5 km long bridge across the harbour and a 5.5 km long viaduct on the Sewri and Nhava Sheva sides.

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