Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project suffers another setback; nobody to bid for it' that was published in Newsband

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project suffers another setback

Nobody to bid for it

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Rs 9,360-crore Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) is meant to help decongest Mumbai as it would take the burden from the city’s development to Navi Mumbai. But it has failed to attract any bidders for a third time on Monday. There was no private company prepared to participate in the tender to build the 22-km sea link between Nhava Sewri and Navi Mumbai.

Also known as the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans Harbour Link, the project involves setting up of a 22-km freeway road bridge between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. It is also meant to provide direct connectivity to Mumbai Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport.

A consortium of five companies - Tata Realty, IRB Infrastructure, GMR, Srei Infra, and Gammon India - were short-listed for the project, but all of them stayed away from bidding for it, citing lack of clarity over the project’s financial viability.

IRB Infrastructure, one of the short-listed bidders, had last week withdrawn from the bidding, citing bad experiences while working on some infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, while the remaining four chose not to submit their bids on Monday even though it was the last day for filing technical and financial bids.

The policy and regulatory hurdles, especially in land acquisition, and opposition from political parties over toll collection were the reasons for the bidders to stay away. Besides, companies were reluctant to take major risks considering the huge requirement of finances.

The government is now considering the option of doing away with the public private partnership model. The government is now toying with the option of taking up the project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which will guarantee a 50 percent funding from the central and state governments.

On hearing the announcement of big-ticket infrastructure projects such as the second airport and the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), areas close to them, such as Panvel, New Panvel and Ulwe and even Alibaug witnessed appreciation of prices of houses.

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link was to make it possible to travel from island city to its neighboring satellite city in a matter of 50 minutes and was meant to open up at least 900 square km of land and ensure land efficiency. A delay in the project means affordable housing will take a hit. Currently, one has to travel at least two-and-a-half hours from the city centre if he buys a house.