Bidding opens for Mumbai-Nagpur expressway work

With just 30% of land acquired, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has floated request for qualification (RFQ) bids for civil works on the planned Mumbai-Nagpur super communication expressway.

The entire cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 46,000 crore, of which the cost of civil works is Rs 27,650 crore.

The balance works will take up the rest Rs 18,350 crore, which includes around Rs 2,500 crore for node development, Rs 13,000 for land acquisition and Rs 500 crore for utility shifting.

Though the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this big-ticket project had mentioned works to be undertaken in five packages, MSRDC has further broken up the civil works, which will now be carried out in 16 different packages.

In terms of financial value, the size of packages varies from Rs 1,050 crore to Rs 2,600 crore, whereas in terms of the length, the smallest package is for road works is for 13.10 kilometre and the longest one is for a road length of 73.36 km.

A senior MSRDC official shared that they also intend to float Request For Proposal (RFP) only when 60% of the land will be acquired for the project.

MSRDC plans to acquire land for the project through the land-pooling model. If everything goes as per the plan, RFP will be floated in May and work order issued when 80% of the land needed is in possession of the corporation.

Under the land pooling method, larger plots will be acquired from for the project and landowners, in return, would get 25% to 30% of the developed land. Besides, an annual compensation for crop loss would also be given to them for a decade.

Around 20,820 hectares of land will be needed to turn the project into reality.

MSRDC has appointed consultancy firm EY to raise debt of Rs 15,800 crore for multiple projects, one of which is 'Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor'. Additionally, talks are underway with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to raise loan to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore for the project.

As part of the plan, the expressway can be converted into runways for fighter jets at three locations to meet the requirements during an emergency or natural disasters.

There are 34 districts in Maharashtra, and the idea is to connect 24 of them through this road project. The state has rechristened the project as 'Maharashtra Prosperity Corridor.'

The state has set an ambitious target of 2019 to make the Expressway operational.