Shivaji statue project cost zooms 30% in two months.

The Democratic Front (DF) government's ambitious mid-Arabian Sea Shivaji statue project at Marine Drive is now estimated to cost the state exchequer a staggering Rs. 1,900 crore. As per the latest tender documents for appointing a project management consultant (PMC) for the memorial, the cost has shot up by almost 30 per cent in a period of just two months.

When tenders were first issued in May this year, the estimated project cost was Rs. 1,500 crore. Bids will be opened in mid-August to make it on time for the Maharashtra Assembly polls and the work on ground is slated to be completed over a five-year period.

On the eve of the last Assembly elections in 2009, when the Ashok Chavan government approved a concept plan for the equestrian statue, the estimated project cost of Rs. 500 crore was less than a third of the amount arrived at now.


THE INDIAN EXPRESS