Uttan-Virar Sea Link cost to be trimmed by 40%

“With the overall cost decreasing, even the expenditure on varied fees will get reduced such as that of general consultancy, thereby lowering the overall project cost,” a state official told Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: Usually, an infrastructure project subject to delays in completion witnesses a sizeable cost escalation. This time around, however, a project’s cost has been trimmed by nearly 40% by deleting some of its components and changing its design. This is the Uttan-Virar Sea Link (UVSL), to be implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The changes happened on the directive of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday.

“This will make the construction more cost-effective and eco-friendly,” read a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office. (Satyabrata Tripathy/ Hindustan Times)

As per the estimates and plans prepared by MMRDA and submitted to the state government this January, the project had an estimated cost of ₹87,427.17 crore. This involved constructing 55.12 km of road—the main sea link component at 24.35 km and the three connectors combined at 30.77 km. The Uttan connector will be 9.32 km long, Vasai will be 2.5 km in length and Virar’s will be the longest at 18.95 km. At Virar, a 1.2 km-tunnel is also planned as a detour near Arnala Fort.

MMRDA had submitted six cost variants to the state, which ranged from ₹87,427.17 crore to ₹52,652 crore. On Thursday, the state decided to go ahead with the option that was financially more viable than the rest.

So far, the plan was to have 10 lanes, including two emergency lanes, or five in each direction on the sea link’s elevated segment. On the connectors or ramps, a total of six lanes or three in each direction were drawn up. CM Fadnavis reviewed the project on Thursday and directed MMRDA to revise the plan with six lanes on the main sea link and four lanes on each of the connectors.

Additionally, the pillar designs have also been altered to single ones instead of the earlier double-pillar designs. “This will make the construction more cost-effective and eco-friendly,” read a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office. The narrower lane width will have direct correlation with the land needed, thus lowering land acquisition and rehabilitation expenses.

“With the overall cost decreasing, even the expenditure on varied fees will get reduced such as that of general consultancy, thereby lowering the overall project cost,” a state official told Hindustan Times.

MMRDA will now raise ₹37,998 crore from either the Japan International Cooperation Agency or other multilateral agencies, while the balance ₹14,654 crore will be infused as equity by the development authority. MMRDA will have to update its detailed project report prior to initiating other preparatory works. CM Fadnavis has asked for creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle to implement the project.

The Maharashtra government is planning a chain of sea links and coastal roads on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s western shores to improve connectivity right from South Mumbai, the western suburbs and the outskirts of Mumbai up to the upcoming Vadhavan Port near Dahanu and link these with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor as well as the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway.

The southern side of UVSL will be connected with the Versova-Uttan section—this is to be undertaken by the BMC in the North Coastal Road project. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation is constructing the 17.17 km-long Versova-Bandra Sea Link. The Bandra-Worli Sea Link (5.6 km) was readied back in June 2009. The 10.58-km South Mumbai Coastal Road was opened in phases from March 2024.

On the northern end of UVSL, MMRDA is working towards extending it right up to Palghar by adding about 21.8 km of the main sea link component and another 7.3 km of connectors into Palghar.