Maharashtra sea-link projects hit roadblock

MUMBAI: The ambitious Nhava Sheva-Sewri sea-link may have been delayed by the legal row but time overrun is not a new thing for the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) projects. Almost all of its projects in Mumbai have either got delayed or have not taken off at all. The delay leads to cost escalation and creates procedural problems such as a revision of the initially submitted detailed project reports (DPR). “Delay affects those projects which have got some key clearances from the Centre,” a secretary said.

In the Democratic Front government’s Mumbai makeover programme, MSRDC has been tasked with four major projects, including the trans-harbour link. The other projects are Bandra-Worli sea-link, Western Freeway (Worli-Nariman Point sea-link) and the waterway or sea transport project linking Nariman Point with Borivli.

The Nhawa-Sewri trans-harbour link, a 22km long six-lane sea-link, proposes to connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai. It will be the second longest sea-link in the world after China’s 36-km-long Hanzhou seaway near Shanghai. The implementation phase of Rs 4,000-crore project is between 2007 and 2011, but the work has not started due to the legal case.

“According to the schedule, bid was to be awarded by December 2006 and work should have commenced by April 2007. The bidding process was actually concluded by MSRDC by January but it has been challenged in court. MSRDC can hardly do anything other than wait for the resolution of the legal case,” an official said.

Very few infrastructure projects in Mumbai match the 20-km-long eight-lane Bandra-Worli sea-link work as far as delay in completion is concerned. The delay of more than two years at present, in fact, forced chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh during the budget session of the legislature to express regrets over what he termed as “unpardonable” time lag in project implementation. “The project would be completed by April 2008 now. It has been delayed by more than a year,” said a secretary.

The Rs 1,306-crore project was one of the seven proposals submitted to the Centre by the state for funds under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM). “But the Union urban development ministry raised objections to the project since the initial DPR did not have a provision for mass public transport through the sea-link.

The Centre asked the state to revise project modalities so that the sea-link does not end up becoming a project only for private transport,” an official said. “More than 55% of the work on the sea-link is over,” said an MSRDC official. Delay in completion of Bandra-Worli sea-link has “inevitably” affected the other seaway project on Worli-Nariman Point. This 13.75-km long sea-link that would run parallel to the shoreline at a distance of 300-1,200 meters into the sea intends to decongest the existing western corridor between Bandra and Nariman Point.

But the Rs 3,150-crore project has not taken off simply because the Bandra-Worli sea-link has not been built. “Bandra-Worli sea-link is the pivotal project while the Worli-Nariman Point seaway is its further extension.”