MSRDC invites proposals to rent land for sea link

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has invited proposals for 10 hectares of land parcel for a period of five years on a rental basis for a temporary casting yard for the ongoing Bandra-Versova Sea Link project.

The Bombay high court had restricted the MSRDC from using the previous Versova land parcel for casting yard purposes. With the absence of the casting yard, MSRDC has been incurring a daily loss of Rs 68 lakh.

This is the second time the MSRDC has invited such a proposal.

“In the first proposal, only one bidder came forward. According to the Public Work Department’s rule, we cannot open the bid only for one proposal,” said the MSRDC official.

The last day of submissions will be on November 20 and the bidding proposal will be opened on November 21.

“In the second bid, we are allowed to open the bidders’ proposal even if there is only one proposal,” the MSRDC officer added.

According to the officer, the delay in the project will also cause the project cost to escalate. “We have not yet calculated how much cost will escalate,” he said. The long pending project of the Bandra-Versova sea link could not start only because of the casting yard.

After having all the permissions from the related departments, the Maharashtra State Road Development Company Ltd (MSRDC) could not set up its casting yard at Juhu-Koliwada Chowp-atty, the land earlier chosen by the MSRDC because the Bombay high court and later, the Supreme Court, too, declared all permissions given to MSRDC for the casting yard as illegal.

This spot was selected as the land is near the sea, which would help move material to the construction site.