A ceremony on Tuesday to lay the foundation for the city’s second Metro rail corridor will be symbolic; work is not likely to begin until mid-2010. The bhoomi puja, which President Pratibha Patil will perform, is being held just before the code of conduct for the Assembly elections is likely to come into effect.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, which has bagged the contract for the 32-km, 27-station, elevated corridor on the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd route, is expected to achieve financial closure within nine months of signing the concession agreement.

“It is difficult to say when exactly work will begin. We’re still carrying out project management studies and will have a clear picture in two-three weeks,” said K P Maheshwari, Senior Vice President, Reliance Infrastructure.

A special purpose vehicle, being created to build the corridor, will have to float tenders for civil construction and this, too, is a lengthy procedure.

Ratnakar Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner, said the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) would ask Reliance Infrastructure to expedite the procedures involved so that construction can start early. “Reliance Infrastructure has conveyed to us informally that financial closure will take around nine months due to the economic situation. But we will ask them to expedite the procedures. We think work will begin within six to seven months,” Gaikwad said.

The concession agreement will be signed by September, he said. Construction is expected to take five years from the date of financial closure. Reliance Infrastructure has estimated that the corridor would cost nearly Rs 11,000 crore, while the MMRDA’s estimate is Rs 8,250 crore.

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