“The recommendation from our end has been sent for awarding the contract to the REL-led consortium, but the cabinet’s nod is required. The decision is likely to be announced next week,” PWD Minister Vimal Mundada said.

The REL-led consortium has quoted a lower viability gap fund for the 3.6-km project than the other consortium in the fray, Hindustan Construction Company-Samsung.

The fate of the proposed flyover from Peddar Road to Wilson College near Girgaum Chowpatty is still unclear. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is reworking the designs after it failed to get a nod from the environment department. The Peddar Road Flyover is seen as part of a crucial dispersal system for traffic between South Mumbai, BWSL and the Worli-Haji Ali sea link.

Last September, the MSRDC had written to the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) appealing for approval saying it was could not redesign the section that intrudes onto the beach.

Now the MSRDC is working on redesigning the portion where the proposed viaduct construction juts seven metres into the beach, pegging two pillars on Chowpatty. “We’re revising the designs on the Chowpatty section now restricting up to the right of way,” said Satish Gavai, vice chairman and managing director, MSRDC.

A senior MSRDC official said the designs are likely to be prepared and submitted by September and a decision on the Peddar Road Flyover is expected after the monsoon.

In July, a committee had rejected the MSRDC’s design for the flyover with two pillars on Chowpatty, sending the plan back to the drawing board eight years after it was mooted. The MCZMA, the state agency that oversees all coastal construction activities, had rejected permission to the flyover on similar grounds in 2006. Apart from environmental hurdles, the proposed 4.5 km flyover has also faced stiff opposition from Peddar Road residents, who include singer Lata Mangeshkar.