The Reliance Infrastructure Ltd-Astaldi S.p.A.(Italy) consortium has bagged the project for the northern extension of the Rajiv Gandhi Bandra Worli Sea Link from Bandra to Versova, an official said in September. The consortium has signed an agreement with the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) for the Rs 7,000 crore Bandra-Versova arm of the RGBWSL within five years. In the competitive bidding process, RInfra-Astaldi with its bid of Rs 6,993.99 crore beat the L&T-Samsung and Hyundai Development Ltd-ITD to bag what is the country’s single biggest urban infrastructure project.

The MSRDC had floated the tenders for the construction of the second sea link on an EPC-basis to build the Versova-Bandra Sea Link, 17.17 km-long, or three times the existing 5.6 km-long RGBWSL. RInfra EPC CEO Arun Gupta said the mega-project will further propel the company as a premier EPC company in India. “Our partnership with Astaldi S.p.A. will help us create a truly world class mega-infrastructure project for Mumbai,” Gupta said.

Though the project is slotted for completion within five years, during monsoons, works would be completely stalled, giving the consortium barely three-and-half years to ready it. The present 5.6 km-long RGBWSL is a cable-stayed bridge between Bandra and Worli was fully opened for operations in early 2010. The country’s first sealink road project, the RGBWSL, has slashed the travel time between Worli-Bandra from around 40 minutes to barely 10 minutes, and later plans were announced to extend the alternative sea route to Nariman Point in south and to Versova and finally till Borivali in north. The RInfra’s project partner is the world’s third largest player in bridge construction and has executed the world’s fourth longest suspension bridge Izmit Bay Bridge, Turkey worth Rs 45,500 crore in April 2016.

That year, it also completed the Western High Speed Diameter Motorway in St. Petersburg, Russia, worth Rs 17,600 crore, comprising a 12-km section with 5.3 km-long viaducts on sea and two cable-stayed bridges.