MMRDA has invited requests for quotations for the 22km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MHTL) project connecting Sewri in South Mumbai to Nhava Sheva port. A stretch of 16.5km of MTHL will be on sea across the Mumbai harbour and a 5.5km viaduct will be on both Sewri and Nhava sides. There will be two interchanges in the link – one at Sewri to link the MHTL with Eastern Expressway and the other at Chirle village to connect MTHL with National Highway 4B. The `88 billion project will be implemented through PPP on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. There will be viability gap funding of 40 percent while MMRDA would give about 20 percent of the project cost as a soft loan to make it more feasible for the bidders. Bidders are expected to be short-listed by March this year and the bid will be awarded by September. The project is scheduled for completion by 2017.
