Work to commence on new MLA hostel at Nariman Point

The state government in Mumbai is finally beginning work on the Manora MLA hostel, which has faced significant delays and cost escalations. The project is estimated to cost ?1266 crore, up from ?853 crore in 2018. The hostel is being handled by Larsen & Toubro and will consist of two towers with 40 and 28 storeys each. The previous four towers were demolished due to poor construction.

MUMBAI: After much delay, the state government is finally starting work on the Manora MLA hostel at Nariman Point, with a grand function scheduled for Thursday.

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One of the architects appointed for the project said there was a huge cost escalation due to the delay of several years. “The cost was estimated to be ₹853 crore in 2018 and now it has increased to ₹1266 crore,” he said. “We have also calculated the escalation for the next four years.” The project is being handled by Larsen & Toubro.

The state government has already spent around ₹100 crore in rent for legislators. As many as 130 of them have been given one room in the Akashwani MLA hostel behind Mantralaya and the Old Vidhan Bhavan MLA hostel and are being paid ₹50,000 a month. The rest of the legislators get ₹1 lakh per month.

Built between 1990 and 1994, the Manora hostel consisted of four towers with 303 rooms. Due to the poor-quality construction, plaster started falling off and one tower, D Wing, was declared unfit for human habitation. The state legislature then decided to pull down all four towers.

Since the PWD was not equipped to handle the reconstruction, the work was given to the National Building Construction Company, a central government enterprise. In May 2021, a global tender was issued for the proposed hostel. However, the work did not progress and it was again handed over to the PWD.

Mumbai had four MLA hostels—Akashwani, Majestic, Old Vidhan Bhavan and Manora. Now Manora is completely razed while Majestic is undergoing repairs.

Neelam Gorhe, deputy chairperson of the legislative council, said the work had been delayed due to the Covid pandemic and CRZ clearance. Manora will have two towers of 40 storeys and 28 storeys and has an FSI of 5.4.