Ever since the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project was first made public for implementation between Sewri and Nhava (Chirle), the price of the project has increased by around 350 per cent.
Back in 2005, when the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had first floated bids to get it constructed on the basis of public-private partnership (PPP), the estimates were pegged at Rs4,000 crore.
Thereafter, there has been a steady rise in the cost, with it now reaching at over Rs17,500 crore. The primary factors in increase in the price are due to delay in project implementation, resulting in an increase in input costs as well as changes to the earlier design.
The earlier MSRDC plan was to have a 2+2 lane or four-lane sea link, but the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) redesigned the 22-km bridge and had six lanes (3 in either direction). Now yet another lane has been added. The seventh lane will be reserved for emergencies. This additional lane alone has resulted in the project cost shooting up by around Rs3,000 crore.
Additionally, the provision for contingency fund, too, has been doubled from the earlier 5 per cent of the project cost to 10 per cent. The third important factor behind price rise is the change in construction technique for girders, from concrete to iron and steel. This has translated in another additional outlay by approximately Rs2,500 crore.
"Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be funding 85 per cent of the project cost of over Rs17,000 crore," said MMRDA additional metropolitan commissioner Sanjay Khandare.
At the moment, the rounds of discussions between the state government, MMRDA and JICA representatives are underway and the loan agreement is expected to be signed by March this year. On Wednesday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took a review of the major infrastructural projects in the state, including MTHL project. He asked the authorities to begin construction of the sea bridge by October 2016, so that the work can be completed by 2019, when the first phase of planned Navi Mumbai International Airport, too, is expected to be ready.
YEAR
PRICE (Rs/crore)
2005
4,000
2008
6,000
2011
8,800
2012
9,360
2014
11,000
2016
17,500
