MUMBAI: For its ambitious Dahisar-Bhayander Link Road (DBLR) project, the BMC will incur Rs 3,304 crore, not Rs 1,998 crore. BMC officials, however, denied any kind of cost escalation and explained that the difference in the amount was owing to inclusion of taxes.
The civic body, in a statement issued in July 2022, said that the estimated cost of this work was Rs 1,998 crore, including operation and maintenance, but the said sum only involved the civil cost and that with the inclusion of taxes, such as GST, the total cost of the project now stands at Rs 3,304 crore.
In a proposal tabled before the standing committee/administrator on September 13, the civic bridges department had said that Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has emerged as the lowest bidder for constructing this vital link and the contract cost has been pegged at Rs 3,304 crore. Further, the BMC has prepared a total detailed estimated cost of around Rs 4,000 crore for the entire work which it said includes provisional sums which are not compulsory to spend but can be used based on directions of the state level committee. The project cost also includes a sum to be paid as rent for land acquired for casting yard and other facilities for a period of three years.
BMC officials said the basic cost of the works remains close to Rs 2,000 crore. An official pointed out that the minor increase in the base cost is also because the Unified Schedule of Rates (USOR) was revised earlier this year based on which the contract is being awarded.
“A provision made for a sky view deck was removed from scope of work. So the cost came down by some 300 crore,” said a BMC official.
The tender for the project was floated in October last year and the deadline to commence works was March 10, which kept getting pushed further. Three companies had bid for the works, of which L&T emerged as the lowest bidder. The elevated road is proposed to be 45 metres wide and with a total length of 5kms. Officials said there was a demand for a road to decongest traffic at Dahisar check naka.
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