Nariman Point-Borivli sea route will open in 18 months: MSRDC

For long, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has been hoping to set up a sea route from Nariman Point to Borivli. It got the much-needed boost after the government agreed to sign the state support agreement. Now, with many private bidders showing interest in the Rs1,200-crore project, the MSRDC said that it was hoping to start the services in the next one and half years.

Public works department (public undertakings) minister Jaydatta Kshirsagar said that with major hurdles the project should kick off in near future. “With the government agreeing to the state support deal, the bidders will get government guarantee against the money they raise for the project,” he said. “We have also assured the bidders that we will share the responsibility of ensuring safety of the network of various utilities underneath the sea bed. Earlier, the onus had been on the bidders alone.”

As many as 19 companies and consortiums have reportedly purchased the bid documents for the project. Kshirsagar said that the Western Inland Passenger Transport System will have both catamaran and hovercrafts plying between Nariman Point and Borivli. The MSRDC announced that the four-lane north carriageway of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link will be opened on Wednesday.

Kshirsagar made it clear that the MSRDC had not given up on the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link between Sewri and Nhava Seva. A few weeks ago, the state had announced that the MMRDA will be the nodal agency for the project.

But Kshirsagar said on Monday, “We are very much in the fray, and have been working on it for past three years. Environmental clearance and acquisition of land were handled by the MSRDC.”