Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Fails to Get Bids
The most ambitious Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) has hit a rough patch in the tendering process for the third time, after none of the shortlisted companies put in tenders for the project before the deadline.
The two ends
Nhava is one of the villages to the south of Mumbai, which has the Nhava Sheva or the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. This port is the largest container port in India and one of the largest ports in the world. It is located near Navi Mumbai on the Konkan mainland across from Mumbai island city. The port was developed to ease the pressure on Mumbai Port. The port is well connected to railway networks and some major highways in India. The closest railway terminals are Panvel and Central Business District (CBD) Belapur.
Sewri is a locality in South Mumbai along its eastern edge. It was one of the original seven islands of Mumbai. A large portion of Sewri belongs to Bombay Port Trust. Sewri has eastern and western parts. Sewri East has a number of industrial units, especially petrochemical industries. Sewri West is a residential locality consisting of a number of housing societies such as Shivaji Nagar, Gulmohar Society, BDD Chawls, etc.
The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link project
Mumbai has earlier witnessed a successful sea-link between Bandra and Worli. The MTHL is the second sea-link Mumbai will be witnessing.
The MTHL is a 22 km sea-link that connects Nhava and Sewri. It will be the longest sea bridge in India upon its completion. MTHL is 6-lane freeway grade road bridge, which is 27 meters in width. It will also be linked to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway to the east and the Western Freeway to the west. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 9,360 crore and it is expected to complete in 2019.
Benefits of the project
The highway is intended to provide a fast connectivity from Mumbai city to Navi Mumbai. It is also intended to provide direct connectivity to the Mumbai Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the proposed new international airport in Navi Mumbai. Apart from allowing faster commute from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai and Pune, the highway is expected to boost economic growth of neighbouring Raigad district. Consequentially, there would be a rise in the real estate prices in the region.
Bidding problems
The project was supposed to be developed on a build-operate-transfer basis. In this, the developer was to quote a price with interest. He would recover it in 35 years after building the link over five years.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner said that it had received no bids till date, possibly because of the companies’ inability to raise sufficient funds for the projects. The board also said that it would seek reasons from these companies for not submitting bids though they were investing in overseas projects. The additional commissioner said that the MMRDA was taking care of all risk factors. However, it may be possible that the companies had issues with raising funds.
Another possibility involved concerns about the negative cash flow due to uncertainty of traffic flow in the first five to seven years. Earlier, one of the five shortlisted companies had announced that it would not bid as it had not seen returns through toll from an earlier road development project even after two years.
Future course of action
MMRDA said that this was not the end of the road. It would seek the state’s opinion. There were options of direct cash contract or through annual bank payment, which were still open. There was also a possibility of recovery of impact fees or development charges in future to raise money so that MMRDA itself could construct the MTHL.
The development authority is currently planning to raise up to 80% of the funding and is in talks with foreign agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Bank.
