IN AN effort to throw another life line to Maharashtra’s trophy infrastructure project, the R9,630-crore Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), the state government now plans to knock on the central government’s door to declare it a ?national project?.
In the past, projects with ?national? tag have received up to 90% of the project cost from the Centre. Whether the state will succeed in making MTHL a project of national relevance, only time will tell, but the growing relevance of the project cannot be ignored.
The proposed 22-km MTHL aims to connect Sewri in the island city of Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai. The project will boast of a 16.5-km-long bridge across the sea and 5.5 km viaduct approaches providing important links to key ports like Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). JNPT has handled 20,61,000 TEU of container volume till September 2013-14, while the Mumbai Port handled 20,000 TEU of container volume in the same period.
All this could get a further boost with connectivity from R9,630-crore MTHL, which is supposed to provide swift connectivity from Mumbai to Goa, Pune and regions in southern India.
Business benefits apart, the project is considered a vital link in the growth of Navi Mumbai area?the twin city and the first planned settlement in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Seamless connectivity with MTHL is expected to develop this area as the counter-magnet to the island city of Mumbai by expanding the city limits, to house excess population and expand business activities, and thereby decongest Mumbai.
However, several hurdles in its implementation in the last seven-eight years has impacted the area’s development and spiralled up the project cost. In August 2013, the project failed to get a single bid, for the third time.
The project, first proposed more than 30 years ago, saw some movement only in 2005, when the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) invited bids for the project. But there was a huge difference between the concession period proposed by MSRDC and the period demanded by the contractors. Companies led by industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani were in the race for it, but the bids were cancelled in 2007.
MSRDC then decided to implement MTHL on cash contract in 2008 and invited bids, but did not receive any bid. In 2009, the project was handed over to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). This time around, the project bidding time lines coincided with the slowdown in the economy which made bidders sceptical about the future revenues from the project in the early years of operation, and made it difficult to raise such a large amount of funds. Since 15%-20% of the traffic that was to ply on MTHL was to come from the proposed Navi Mumbai airport, the new airport?s unclear fate, bidders feared, may limit traffic and revenues in the project?s the initial years.
Now, with the state government reaching a resolution on land acquisition with the project affected parties of the airport area, there maybe one hurdle crossed, but the complexities involved in the construction of this airport may be far from over, as it includes diverting the course of the Ulwe river, replanting of around 161 hectares of mangroves and removing a 90-metre hillock. So, just removal of the land acquisition hurdle may not mean a smooth implementation of the airport, and consequently, the MTHL.
Much hope is placed on the scheduled meeting of Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today. It remains to be seen if the Centre indeed extends a helping hand to this ambitious project. However, Chavan is fully convinced that MTHL would qualify as a ?national project?, for it has the potential to transform the country?s financial capital into a world-class city.
Straddling the sea
Project: 22-km link with a 16.5-km bridge across sea and 5.5-km viaducts
Connectivity: From Sewri in Mumbai to Nhava in Navi Mumbai; To link JNPT and Mumbai port; key link to proposed Navi Mumbai airport
Goal: To develop area as counter-magnet to Mumbai by expanding city limits and decongest Mumbai; boost trade and business
