Maha govt to build trans-harbour link; Ambanis out

The Maharashtra government has decided to construct the Rs 6,000-crore (Rs 60-billion) Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project on its own, as an earlier process to bid it out to private companies was frustrated by delays.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure, headed by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, at Mantralaya.

The decision was taken to avoid further delay especially in the wake of MTHL project's importance in the future development of Mumbai, an official said.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation would undertake the project by devising a suitable

financial model.

The project would be developed as a public project and not through the private sector.

The bidding process earlier conducted for the project was cancelled, mainly because Reliance Infrastructure's bid became invalid while Reliance Industries had lost out to the former.

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure-Hyundai consortium, which had quoted the concession period of nine years 11 months, had rejected the government's proposal to extend the bid validity up to August 12 from June 12 when it expired.

While Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries had quoted the concession period of 75 years.