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

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.

- Ateeq Shaikh

MUMBAI: 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.

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 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.