“We have submitted the bid documents to seek approval of the government and very soon we will be inviting the tenders,” said Minister for the Public Works Department, Anil Deshmukh.
The project, now estimated to cost Rs 450 crore, has been stuck in shallow waters after being conceived in 2002. After awarding the Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) contract in 2005 to a consortium led by Mumbai-based Satyagiri Shipping Co Ltd, the tenders had to be cancelled in February this year after the state government studied the legal aspects of the contract awardee forming a new consortium of companies. Some of Satyagiri’s consortium partners had backed out. The consortium later also got new partners Gammon India, Uttam Galva Steel and Moreshwar Trading Company.
Sources said that a high-powered committee headed by Johny Joseph had felt that a new consortium’s members would not be acceptable as per the norms of the tendering process.
Having burnt its fingers once, the MSRDC now wants to be “serious” in its approach to the project, which promises to cut travel time on the 47-km route to barely 50 minutes. “This time, the conditions of the tenders would be more stringent. We are certain that the bids will be invited by next month,” said Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of MSRDC S M Gavai.
The project is to be undertaken on a BOOT basis in phase-wise manner, with the MSRDC envisaging air-conditioned hovercrafts or catamarans to transport passengers. The project involves building terminals at Borivali (Charkop), Marve, Versova, Juhu (near Holiday Inn), Bandra and Nariman Point.