BWSL toll: MSRDC looks for a 3-month toll operator

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult for the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to find a toll operator for the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, also known as the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL).

After extending the bids to find a new operator, MSRDC is now looking for operators to manage the system for a three-month period, thereby opening it for the “smaller players” too, MSRDC said.

Vijay Waghmare, joint managing director, MSRDC said, “It has become difficult for bidders to estimate traffic owing to the pandemic, based on which they quote their bids. The three-month period will make it easier for smaller companies to also participate in the bids.” MSRDC is looking for a contractor for the three-month period even on the Katai and Gove toll plaza on the Bhiwandi-Kalyan-Shilphata Highway.

MSRDC had invited bids for toll-management of BWSL after MSRDC’s contract with the previous concessionaire, MEP Infrastructure Developers, expired in January 2020. MSRDC is expected to collect toll for the sea-link that was opened in 2009 till 2052 with revision in rates every three years. It was last revised in 2018.