BVSL work to start by the end of 2017: MSRDC

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has claimed that the construction of the city's second sealink between Bandra and Versova will begin by the end of 2017. The corporation has claimed to have short-listed five bidders for the construction of Rs 7,500 crore sealink and funds for the same would be generated via loans taken from domestic and international banks.

Bandra-Versova Sealink (BVSL) is part of the coastal road being constructed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that will connect south Mumbai with the western suburbs. The portion between Bandra and Versova will be in the form of a 9.5-km-long sealink.

The sealink project was decided following opposition from Juhu residents over a proposed tunnel road part of coastal road beneath the beach, which they claim, would destroy its beauty.

In addition, it had also faced stiff opposition as the alignment of the coastal road between Bandra and Versova was to run through mangroves and koliwadas, which resulted in fishermen opposing the project.

A senior MSRDC official, said, “We have short-listed five companies, namely L&T-Daewoo in joint venture (JV), HCC along with SKEC in JV, Reliance along with CGCD in JV, Soma in JV with CHED and Hyundai-ITD Cementation in JV. We have asked them to submit their financial proposals followed by which the contract would be awarded post monsoons and the work can start by December 2017.”

The MSRDC has set a deadline of 2020 to complete the project. The eight-lane project will be built 900 metres into the sea. It was proposed earlier as the Western Express Highway and SV Road were saturated.