Water transport project will take 4 years to complete
A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R.V. More dismissed the petition by Satyagiri Shipping Company, which had sought orders to restrain MSRDC from awarding the contract to Pratibha Industries Ltd.
A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice R.V. More dismissed the petition by Satyagiri Shipping Company, which had sought orders to restrain MSRDC from awarding the contract to Pratibha Industries Ltd.
The bench said the party that had not participated in the bid could not challenge acceptance of a single bid on specious grounds of public interest.
“The project is of great public importance and it is hanging fire for a long time,” the bench observed, adding, “The project is pending for almost 30 years. Obviously, on account of this delay, great inconvenience is caused to the people.”
The court also said that there was no impropriety on the part of MSRDC. “If repeated floating of tenders and relaxation of conditions do not attract bidders, we don’t think any impropriety was committed by MSRDC in accepting the single bid,” the court said.
The Rs 1,200 crore West Coast project to be implemented by the MSRDC will link Borivli to Nariman Point with the help of hovercrafts or catamarans. The locations include areas like Nariman Point, Bandra, Juhu (Near Holiday Inn), Versova, Marve, Borivli (Charkop).
The total time required for completion for the project from Nariman Point to Borivli, after it receives approval from the government, is four years. However, the project will be carried out in phases with the first one likely to be completed in 22 months after it gets the state cabinet.
“The first phase will be from Nariman Point-Bandra-Versova which will be completed in 22 months,” chief engineer, MSRDC, Subhash Nage, said.