No confidence? IRB scraps plans to bid for Mumbai Trans Harbour Link

IRB Infrastructure, which had formed a consortium to bid for the Rs 9,630-crore Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project,a sea-link from the city to Navi Mumbai, has decided not to participate in the bidding process, citinglack of support from Maharashtra state’s co-ordinating agencies and shattered confidence in urban infra projects in the state.

“We had jointly with our consortium spent a huge amountof money, time and efforts for conducting technical andtraffic studies, structured a viable financial model and werealmost in a position to put our bid for the project.“But unfortunately, the experience we have had in one of the urban infrastructure projects in Kolhapur has shatteredour confidence to invest in urban infrastructure projectsespecially in the state,” IRB said in a letter to the MumbaiMetropolitan Commissioner, informing about its decision toquit the project.

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The IRB-Hyundai Engineering consortium was among the five shortlisted firms to develop the project. The deadline for submitting the bids for the 22-km Mumbai TransHarbour Link (MTHL) is August 5.The other four qualified consortia are Cintra-Soma-Srei, Gammon Infrastructure Projects-OHL Concessions-GS Engineering, GMR Infrastructure-L&T- Samsung C&T Corpn and the Tata Realty and Infrastructure-Autostrade Indian Infrastructure Development-Vinci Concessions Development.

On completion, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) was to connect Sewri in Mumbai and Nhava in Navi Mumbai.

“We have decided not to bid for the project. This decision has been taken mainly owing to the bitter experience we had in one of our toll BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects in Kolhapur where we did not receive the expected support from the government,” Virendra Mhaiskar, Chairman and Managing Director, IRB Infrastructure, told reporters on the sidelines of the 15th AGM on Wednesday.Mhaiskar, however, said if the situation changes inthe near future and the state shows some political will tosupport urban infrastructure development on the PPP model, IRBwould definitely rethink on bidding for the project.

The public had opposed toll collection on the 50-km13-road project in Kolhapur, following which the stateadministration asked the company to stop collecting toll.

IRB Infra later approached the court seeking permission to collect the toll.“The court has asked the state to providesecurity at the toll plazas. We expect to start collecting toll in the next two to three weeks,” Mhaiskar said.

The proposed trans-harbour link connects Sewri innortheastern periphery of the island city to Nhava in NaviMumbai. The 22-km link includes a 16.5-km long bridge acrossthe harbor and two 5.5-km long viaduct approaches on the Sewriand Nhava sides.

With inputs from PTI