Mumbai: The Versova Bandra sealink work has attained only 2 percentage of civil work in last two years, said an official from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is the project implementing authority. The official further added, "Following slow work a showcause notice has also been issued to the appointed contractor. Wherein to complete 5 percent of work in milestone one by August 31st has been told. Failing which, action will be initiated".
Since the project has missed deadline despite giving extension due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, the ongoing civil work is slow as per the expected timeline. If the appointed contractor fails to show any progress in the project works, the delay caused will be recovered by charging an interest/ from bank guarantee and security deposit given, stated the official.
The consortium of Reliance Infrastructure-Astaldi is constructing the 17-kilometre-long sealink, comprising four connectors at an estimated cost of Rs 7,000 crore. Once open for the traffic the said Sea Link would cut down the commute time of Mumbaikars to 10 minutes from over 90 minutes.
The Free Press Journal has been tracking the progress of this project from the outset. Due to covid-19 induced lockdown the project work was affected. Earlier, due to want of casting yard the work was delayed.
Interestingly though, the Versova-Bandra sealink project work delayed, the MSRDC is seeking consultants for its extended project Versova-Virar. A pre-feasibility report has been made and it is now looking for consultant to prepare a detailed project report, issue tenders and appoint contractors for same.
