Commuters seeking to travel for work to Nariman Point across the turbid waters of the Arabian Sea have a long wait ahead.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) plan to revive the passenger water transport system from Borivili to Nariman Point has run aground yet again. The corporation, on Thursday, received no bids from the 10 companies interested in the project which is languishing on the drawing board for the past two decades.
Satish Gavai, MSRDC’s managing director said, “We would examine the bidders request seeking more time and call bids again.”
According to sources, the bidders did not submit their bids as they were unhappy with MSRDC for not giving them time to carry out surveys like geo-technical studies. Said a bidder, “All surveys need to be updated. We had sought three months time to carry out the investigations before bids could be submitted but MSRDC refused our request. Also, with no marine operator having this expertise in India, it takes time to form consortiums with overseas companies.”
About six months ago, MSRDC had cancelled the contract awarded to Satyagiri Shipping because of the company’s failure to fulfil its contractual agreement. The system is now been implemented with the union government giving viability gap funding. Bids were called with submissions being extended twice.
Out of 10 bidders, MSRDC has received five bids from real estate developers like Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai SEZ, Zoom Developers and Man Infras Construction Company. Other bidders include Four Seasons, Singapore based Sun Sea Cruises India Ltd and IRB Infra developers.
Another objection pertained to MSRDC’s insistence on fixing the tariff which, the bidders felt, did not take into account the inflation and fluctuating oil costs. A bidder said that MSRDC had put the onus on developers to shift underwater telecom cables buried under the sea bed at Nariman Point, Bandra and Versova after taking the permission from the central government. “Also, the onus is on us to take environment permission for constructing a maintenance yard on about 60,000 sq mts of land at Charkop which has mangroves and overhead transmission wires running through it, said a bidder.
