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Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link is finally on with the Finance Ministry sanctioning Rs. 1920 crore Viability Gap Funding for the project.

Mumbai : The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link has crossed its last hurdle: the Finance Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 1920 crore Viability Gap Funding for the project.

With that, the decks have been cleared for India’s second sea-bridge, the MTHL project. The MTHL is to be developed as an Expressway link with a six-lane dual carriageway road bridge and a rail bridge connecting Sewri on Mumbai side to Nhava on Navi Mumbai side.

The project will commence from the east side of Sewri Railway Station on the Harbor Line and proceed to Nhava and terminate at the north of Chirle village with an interchange to National Highway 4B on the mainland.

The 4.25 km Sewri-Worli elevated connector running from Sewri Railway station to Annie Besant Road (Worli) will provide east connectivity at the Sewri interchange of the link.

Besides providing connectivity to NH-4B, easing traffic congestion in Mumbai and across the mainland, MTHL will entail precious saving in time and fuel.  It will also help decongest south Mumbai and provide direct connectivity to Mumbai Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the proposed new international airport at Navi Mumbai.

With excellent connectivity to Thane, Nashik, Pune and Navi Mumbai, the MTHL will boost economical growth of the entire Raigad region and its surroundings.

The 22-km MTHL is to be completed in five years, and its construction is expected to start by year-end.

The Rs 9,630 crore project will be implemented in public-private partnership mode.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan played a key role in getting this project cleared, which was pending for more than five years. The environmental clearance for the project was also given during Chavan’s tenure. The Chief Minister has thanked Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for the decision. ‘’This will help realise the dream of a mega-Mumbai,’’ Chavan said in his press statement.

“This decision of the central government has paved the way for the bidding process. We hope to start execution of the project by year-end and make the bridge operational within the next five years,” Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority joint director (projects) Dilip Kavathkar said.

The central government will contribute 20 percent of the total cost of the project; 20 percent will come from MMRDA and the balance 60 percent from the private partner.

The six-lane MTHL will have noise barriers near Sewri as per environmental requirements and view barriers near the high-security BARC station in Trombay.

It is expected to carry around 62,000 passenger car units in 2018.

To handle the dense traffic, MMRDA has undertaken a few additional corridors; one of these is the 17-km-long Eastern Freeway Project, running from south Mumbai to Ghatkopar, which will be operational by May 2013.

The toll on the MTHL will be Rs 220 for cars, Rs 565 for light commercial vehicles, Rs 765 for trucks/buses and Rs 1000 or above for heavy commercial vehicles/multi-axle vehicles. The toll structure would be reviewed every five years.