Smart Bandra Kurla Complex plan cost to increase

Mumbai: After keeping its ambitious project of turning of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) into a mini smart city in the pipeline for almost three years now, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) now claims that the project cost of the Smart BKC plan is set to escalate by at least 30 per cent.

MMRDA has claimed that the expense of the project will rise because of the addition of new components like smart parking and solar street lightning. The project was tendered at around Rs 100 crore in 2015. MMRDA had later awarded the project to R-Infra in 2016, on a design, develop, implement, operate and maintain basis for around Rs 75 crore as quoted by R-Infra. The project included WiFi hotspots, smart parking, CCTV surveillance and a citizen mobile application.

However, the company walked out of the project in August 2016, claiming that it didn’t receive any formal intimation or letter of intent from the MMRDA. Thereafter, the MMRDA claimed that it has been studying other models that could be replicated in the bid documents along with features such as parking, free hi-speed WiFi internet, solar-powered street lights with motion sensors and advanced CCTV networks.

MMRDA claimed it has been studying the Nagpur Smart City project, whose features it could replicated in the tender documents when the bids for the project is floated once again. UPS Madan, the metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said, “We are studying various models and components that would be replicated in the tender that would be floated after the code of conduct. The updated cost of the project would increase, and it could be around Rs 130 crore due to the addition of various improved components.”