Delinked from WR corridor, Harbour fast line starts to roll CST-Panvel Project On Govt Table Next Wk

The CST-Panvel high-speed corridor project began rolling with authorities delinking it from the Western Railway elevated corridor and deciding to press ahead with the pre-bidding process.      The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation plans to submit the draft state support agreement (SSA) to the railway board and the state government next week.      The signing of an SSA is an important milestone in the pre-bidding stage of a public-private partnership project. It binds the state government to complete important work like land acquisition or shifting of utilities in a time-bound manner.      "We will send the draft SSA by next week," said MRVC chairman and managing director Rakesh Saksena. "As soon as we receive in-principle approval for the SSA, the process to prepare the bid documents will be taken up," added another official.      So far, the Harbour line fast corridor had been dormant as its fate was linked to progress on the 60-km Churchgate-Virar elevated rail corridor. "This stand does not make sense as the WR's elevated corridor is getting delayed due lack of convergence on SSA, land acquisition and even FSI. There is no harm if the pre-bidding process for both projects is carried out simultaneously," an MRVC official said.      Railways officials concede there are fewer hurdles in executing the Harbour line corridor compared to the WR corridor. "Private land does not have to be acquired at all for the entire 49-km corridor. Unlike WR, where some portion of the corridor has to go underground, the Harbour project will be elevated up to Kurla and go at ground level from Mankhurd onwards," said a senior MRVC official. The only major problem, he added, will be removal of the slums, mostly along the Mankhurd-Govandi stretch. The government land needed mostly belongs to the Mumbai Port Trust.      Bidders, officials believe, will be keen on the project because of its fare earning potential. "The Harbour line is saturated as it operates only on a slow corridor. The growth of Navi Mumbai and the proposed international airport and special economic zones will bring in commuters," said an official. "We expect a 30% shift from the suburban line and 20% shift from road traffic once the corridor starts."      MRVC has sought a floor space index of 4, which will help the bidder recover 22% of the project cost. "The Central government will provide viability gap funding to the tune of 20% of the project cost."