It's been almost two years, still the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation(MSRDC) is still looking for toll operator for the Bandra Worli Sea Link also called as Rajiv Gandhi Sea link. The previous toll operator's contractor expired in 2020 and from then onwards a temporary toll operator has been hired to do the collection on a daily basis.
In fact, the MSRDC though floated a tender for appointment of temporary contractor but due to no response the previous operator MEP infrastructure was given the job again. This agency has been collecting toll on the 5.6-km sealink and maintaining it since 2009 but in January 2020, the contract term expired.
Now, the MSRDC has floated tender for the second time for appointment of new contractor for a period of there years. The due date is of June 21st for submission of proposals by the interested toll collection agencies. Interested one have to make an earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 6.92 crore and performance security in form of bank guarantee and security deposit of Rs 17.30 crore each.
Furthermore, only those who have experience to operate toll plazas of 12 lanes under a single contract in last five years can only be eligible for this job responsibility as per the MSRDC.
The FPJ had reported that the MSRDC had tried to sell out toll rights for a period of 19 years same on the lines of Mumbai Pune Expressway however it received no response. Resulting in, it scrapped its plan and decided to continue to hire operator only for three years time period.
According to an official from MSRDC, who did not wish to be named said that they haven't received expected response from the bidders following which the tender was called for the second time. "Despite covid restrictions have been relaxed but the response for toll operator is still dull," he asserted.
As per the government of Maharashtra notification, MSRDC can collect toll from this sealink until 2039. Whereas once the ongoing Versova-Bandra Sealink is ready, it can extend the collect of toll till 2052.
