The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has set an ambitious deadline of 2020 to complete the construction of the 9-km-long Bandra Versova Sealink (BVSL).
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has set an ambitious deadline of 2020 to complete the construction of the 9-km-long Bandra Versova Sealink (BVSL). The corporation has floated pre-qualification bids for the construction of the sealink that will cost around Rs 7,500 crore.
The sealink project was revived in March 2016 due to opposition from environmentalists and locals from Bandra and Juhu, as well as fishermen from the surrounding areas, to the idea of having a coastal road between Bandra and Versova. This was one of the reasons why the sealink project was revived, since in the case of a sealink, the bridge goes deep into the sea without the disturbing the existing infrastructure.
The protest was over a proposed tunnel road beneath the beach, which, it was claimed, would destroy its beauty. The coastal road had also faced stiff opposition as its alignment between Bandra and Versova would have affected mangroves and the Koli community, which resulted in its members opposing the project. After facing this opposition, the state government had decided to take up the sealink once again as an alternate route.
Now, after the pre-qualification bids for the project have been floated for another two or three months, bidders will short-listed for the final bidding process. MSRDC officials expect to complete the tendering procedure by the end of 2016 and award work for the same by next year.
“The revised cost of the project is Rs 7,500 crore and once the work order is awarded, we plan to complete the project within the next three years,” said Radheshyam Mopalwar, managing director, MSRDC.
The corporation, after obtaining coastal regulation zone clearances, had initiated the bidding process for the BVSL, meant to be the northward arm of the landmark Bandra Worli Sealink (BWSL), in March 2014 on a ‘design, build, finance, operate and transfer’ model. The bidding process, however, was scrapped over uncertainty related to the project’s funding.
