MSRDC gets 4 bids for its Nepean Sea Road plot

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) recently received four bids for its prime sea-facing plot at Nepean Sea Road.

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The state corporation is looking to lease the plot for 60 years to generate funds for the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, which is estimated to cost ₹55,447 crore.

According to real estate experts, the market value of the 1.54-acre plot is around ₹550 crore.

According to state officials, the technical evaluation of the bids is underway following which MSRDC will undertake a financial evaluation of each of the bids. The corporation did not reveal the bidders’ names as the process is in progress.

MSRDC will adopt a similar procedure to lease its plots in Bandra and along the Mumbai-Pune expressway corridor for the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor.

MSRDC’s joint managing director Vijay Waghmare said, “We are yet to release the expression of interests (EoI) for the plots in Bandra and along the Mumbai-Pune expressway. However, we want to proceed with the bidding process for these plots only after gauging the market responses and the lacuna in the bidding process of the Nepean Sea plot.”

The amount generated by leasing these three plots will be offered to a consortium of nationalised banks, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), as collateral. In September, MSRDC had completed the financial closure of ₹28,000 crore for the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor, recently named the Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, after the late Shiv Sena founder.

The Maharashtra government also decided to infuse an additional ₹3,500-crore share capital for the project and waive stamp duty on agreements between agencies working on the project.

MSRDC is looking to complete a major portion of the corridor – between Nashik and Nagpur – by January 2021, said Waghmare.

The project is expected to reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur from 16 hours to eight to 10 hours. It will pass through 10 districts, and the corporation is looking at developing 17 townships along the corridor.