Track2Realty: In a major setback to attempts of Maharashtra government to improve infrastructure in the Mumbai, none of the five shortlisted firms put in tender for the ambitious Mumbai TransHarbour Link (MTHL) project, the bids for which opened on Tuesday, Aug 6. It is also seen as a major blow for the Mumbai real estate market which was expecting a turnaround post this Rs. 10,000 crore ambitious project.
“We did not receive any bid from the private sector for the MTHL project,” MMRDA Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Ashwini Bhide told media.
On July 31, one of the five shortlisted companies, IRB Infrastructure, had said it would not bid for MTHL. IRB Infra had tied up with Hyundai Engineering for the sea bridge.
The other four shortlisted consortia were Cintra-Soma-Srei, Gammon Infrastructure Projects-OHL Concessions-GS Engineering, GMR Infrastructure-L&T-Samsung C&T Corpn and Tata Realty and Infrastructure-Autostrade Indian Infrastructure Development-Vinci Concessions Development.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is the implementing agency for the Rs 9,630-crore project, which seeks to connect Sewri in the northeastern fringe of the island city with Nhava on the mainland. It is to be developed on built-operate-transfer basis.
“We had provided all necessary assistance to mitigate all the risks for the private sector. Right from clearances to assuring financial assistance, we had addressed most of their problems. Yet we did not get any response,” Bhide said.
After repeated failures, MMRDA had extended the deadline for shortlisted consortia to submit bids to July 5 which was again put off to August 5 from original date of May 24, 2013 after the bidders sought additional time.
Bhide said the Government had also approached the Centre for making changes in the model document of the project on certain terms and conditions to address some of the issues faced by the private sector.
To address some of its financial risks, Union Finance Ministry, in January this year, sanctioned viability gap funding to the tune of Rs 1,920 crore for the project.
A senior MMRDA official, directly involved with the project, said the companies didn’t bid because most of them have strained balance sheets and do not want to leverage their balance sheet any more.
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan had indicated some time ago that the state may build the project on its own if the private sector did not participate in it. The project aims to connect Sewri in south Mumbai to Chirle village in Nhava Sheva, reducing travel time between the island city and the mainland.
