The Hindu : National : Anil edges out Mukesh in bid

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Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
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National

Anil edges out Mukesh in bid

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Construction of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, a 21-km-long inshore bridge spanning Sewree on Mumbai Island and Nhava, the second longest bridge on the earth, will commence in December next and completed in five years from then, according to Maharashtra Public Works Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Mr. Deshmukh said that the bid submitted by the Anil Ambani-led consortium of Reliance Energy and Hyundai of Korea won the contract for the prestigious project, defeating the consortium of IL&FS, SKIL Infrastructure and John Laing Construction led by his brother, Mukesh Ambani.

BOT basis

The bids were opened on Wednesday. The project worth Rs.6,000 crore is on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis. The Anil Ambani consortium bagged it for they had said they would collect the toll charges from user-vehicles for nine years and 11 months while his brother’s bid had quoted toll charges for 75 years.

The successful bidder will bear the entire cost of the project and transfer it to the state after operating it for the period. Mr. Deshmukh said that the toll charges were fixed, Rs.150 for light vehicles and Rs.250 for heavy vehicles. It is estimated that 50,000 vehicles use the trans-harbour bridge every day.

But the usage would go up because of developments such as new airport, expansion of the Nhava Sheva Port (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) and SEZ. The consortiums led by the Ambani brothers were the only rivals in the final round.

Mr. Deshmukh said that the letter of acceptance of the bid will be issued in March next.

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