Mumbai: MMRDA's ambitious MTHL project gets final green clearance.

After much struggle, the ambitious Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project has received a final environmental clearances and the construction work is expected to start by December 2017. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development and Authority (MMRDA) had invited tenders for request for qualification of the project and tenders for the construction will be invited soon.

The 22 kilometre bridge will start from Sewri and will end at Nhava-Sheva. Decongesting heavy traffic of the city, it will provide a gateway to Navi Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

The bidding process for the project had a deadline of April but the last date of submission was extended to June 5. However, a senior MMRDA official, requesting anonymity, confirmed that the bidding process will surpass its June deadline. This is not the first time that the project has been delayed since earlier it faced several hurdles in the form of environmental clearances.

The authorities has made four attempts to initiate the project since 2003. Each attempt was miserably failed due to incompletion of bidding process, lack of clearances and dismissal of proposals. However, the authorities then decided to switch to a cash contract from the previous Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. The official added that the MMRDA decided to scrap PPP model and execute the project on cash contract basis. Soon after the decision, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to fund the project.

According to the project, passengers from Mumbai going towards Pune and Goa will travel much lesser distance due to MTHL. Currently, these passengers use Vashi bridge, which is very congested. This will help in decongesting the traffic on the inroads of the city. Also, motorists travelling from the western suburbs towards Pune and Goa have to tackle the traffic at Ghatkopar and enter Vashi Highway via Mankhurd which is one of the busiest roads of the city.

After completion of the project, it will be the longest sea bridge in the country with a length of 22-km, the project is estimated to cost around 17,000 crore. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to fund 85 percent of the project as a loan that will be paid in the next 30 years. The remaining funds will be disbursed in the second phase of the project by MMRDA, in about two years time after construction begins.

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