R-Infra wins Rs 11,000 cr Mumbai Metro-II project

Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra), part of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has won Mumbai Metro Line–II project from Maharashtra government. The estimated cost of project is around Rs 11,000 crore.

As per the agreement, the project will be on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. “It has a concession period of 35 years with an extension clause of another 10 years,” stated the notification the company to Bombay Stock Exchange.

The project will be executed in a consortium compromising Reliance Communication and Canada-based SNC Lavalin. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 11,000 crore out of which Rs 2,298 crore will be provided by the government as grant. “With this investment, R-Infra would be committing more than Rs 13,500 crore for the Mumbai metro rail sector,” stated the notification.

Lalit Jalan, CEO and whole-time director, Reliance Infrastructure, said: “We are confident of achieving the financial closure before October 2010.” He further added, “Every major city in the country is planning to have a metro rail. So beside the big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur, we would also be exploring opportunities in smaller cities like Pune, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad etc.”

The 32-kilometre project will connect Charkop in the north to Bandra and then to Mankhurd in the east. It will be fully elevated metro project with 27 stations along the route.

KP Maheshwari, senior executive vice-president, Reliance Infrastructure, said: “We have already completed the alignment survey along the corridor. Once both VAG (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor) and CBM (Charkhop-Bandra-Mankhurd) corridor are completed, they would serve areas that are not connected by existing Suburban Rail System and would provide convenience to the 16 lakh commuters, who would be taking the metros daily.”