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Konkan Railway Corporation bags contract for expressway tunnels

The Konkan Railway Corporation -- a Union government undertaking -- has bagged the contract for constructing six tunnels on the proposed Bombay-Pune expressway. Interestingly, the state government handed KRC the contract without asking for tender bids keeping in mind the experience and availability of required technology for constructing tunnels with the KRC.

The state government has accorded priority states to the Bombay-Pune expressway project.

The contracting parties signed a memorandum of understanding on the Rs 1 billion contract, to be completed within the next 18 months, according to Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The gap between what the public works department could do and what was needed had widened tremendously, calling for privatisation of the work, he said. The state has already invested Rs 40 billion in this sector to date. Gadkari was confident that before the expiry of term of the present legislative assembly, the investment would increase to Rs 250 billion even as he targeted an investment of Rs 100 billion till December 1998.

The state is also planning an underground parking plaza to provide a parking facility in South Bombay. Places in Nariman Point and Oval Maidan are being considered for the plaza, Gadkari said, adding that projects to reduce the commuting time taken between Dahisar and Churchgate to 50 minutes and between Kalamboli in New Bombay and Sion to 45 minutes would soon be implemented.

A Rs 9 billion Mahim-Worli-Malabar Hill-Nariman Point sea route project has been sent up to the Union environment ministry for approval. If completed, it will reduce time taken between Mahim and Nariman Point to 18 minutes. Other projects to be completed by the end of next year are the Bombay-Talasari (Ahmedabad highway), Bombay-Nasik (Agra highway) and the Bombay-Mahad (Goa highway). Gadkari said a hotel magnate has also evinced interest in the proposed Rs 2.5 billion Rewas-Karanja-Bombay sea-bridge.

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