Debt-ridden MSRDC takes road to revenue revival

With a debt of Rs4,500 crore and a number of premium infrastructure projects in the pipeline, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) now plans to formulate a comprehensive policy to revive the financial health of the organisation.

From leasing out 23 of its plots spread across the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, to setting up theme parks, the corporation is looking at ways of creating sustainable sources of revenue generation.

The striking features of the policy include setting up a Formula 1 racing track within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). “Our team has been working on creating a policy which will be comprehensive in nature,” said MSRDC vice-chairman and managing director Sonia Sethi.

“We do not want to be limited as a road building corporation. Moreover, to revive ourselves from the debt, 23 plots, comprising close to 1,000 acres of land spread across the 92km Mumbai-Pune Expressway, can be easily utilised. Our policy will include suggesting measures which will make this entire patch an economically vibrant zone.”
Sethi said the policy should be ready by the end of September.

When asked about the development of an F1 car racing track, Sethi said: “The state government is keen to create a premium sporting activity and has asked us to take it forward. We are gathering the relevant data. We will be asking expert consultants throughout the world for expression of interest (EOI) for generation of such ideas.

“If such a mammoth project finally is conceived, it will definitely be on public-private-partnership basis.”

The corporation is also looking at a theme park on one of the land patches on the expressway. “We are planning to appoint an agency which can study the departments and come up with revenue generation ideas,” said Sethi.