Worli-Haji Ali sea link work to begin next year

The state government on Monday will sign a formal agreement with Reliance Sealink One Private Limited, a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company Limited.

Construction of the Worli-Haji Ali sea link is likely to start by early 2011, after a delay of more than 508 days.

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The state government on Monday will sign a formal agreement with Reliance Sealink One Private Limited, a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company Limited.

“We will be signing the concession agreement on Monday,” Jaydutt Kshirsagar, public works department minister in charge of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), said.

The 3.3-km bridge between Worli and Haji Ali is a part of the state’s ambitious Western Freeway Sea Link project to connect Bandra to Nariman Point.

The Reliance Infrastructure-Hyundai consortium had emerged as the preferred bidder for constructing the bridge on February 4, 2009. The government then took more than a year to decide whether it wanted the consortium to build the project.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan finally decided to hand over the project to the consortium on February 25. The letter of acceptance was given but no formal agreement signed.

Once the agreement is signed on Monday, Reliance will give MSRDC Rs 100 crore as security deposit. Reliance will get six months to raise finance for the project. Work is likely to start by early next year and will be completed in four years.

The consortium will also have to build a 1.6-km connector shaped like a clover leaf, which will be a loop road passing over the south-bound carriageway of the Bandra-Worli sea link and meeting the Worli end.