The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) has received bank guarantees worth ₹735 crore from the consortium of Reliance Infrastructure - Astaldi S.p.A (Italy) for the Versova-Bandra Sea Link (VBSL). A pact for the construction of the project was inked on September 4. Work on the project is expected to start in October.
MSRDC received ₹350 crore as Performance Security Bank Guarantee (PS-BG) and ₹385 crore Mobilization Advance Bank Guarantee (MA-BG). The Reliance Infrastructure - Astaldi had earlier bagged the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for ₹6,993.99 crore.
The 17.17-km-long Versova-Bandra Sea Link is three times the length of the existing Bandra-Worli Sea Link, which is 5.6 km and will have exits at Bandra, Juhu Koliwada and Versova. The sea link will cut the time between Versova to Worli to 15 minutes and is slated to be completed by 2023.