Conceived in the 1990s and contracted in year 2000, the 5.6-km Bandra-Worli sea link, promising to cut the 40-minute crawl from suburban Mumbai into downtown to a 7-minutes ride is now well and truly in danger of stalling.

Dogged by delays and disputes ever since work began, contractors Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) now says it may not be able to continue work if the government of Maharashtra does not clear pending, disputed dues of over Rs 600 crore.

The numbers are self-explanatory: HCC, contracted by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), says it has spent Rs 889 cr. The original contract value was Rs 400 cr. Payments received by the contractor to date? Rs 248 cr. The difference is locked in disputes over escalating costs brought about by “repeated” changes in design.

HCC is close to throwing in the towel. Says CMD Ajit Gulabchand, “We have now reached an end where we are unable to do more. You can’t go on asking someone to build something without paying the price.” Almost 75 per cent of the design has been altered since the contract was signed, he says.

For the financial capital’s weary motorists, there couldn’t be more depressing news. Of the bevy of “makeover” projects promised by the state government, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link is the only project showing any physical, tangible progress. In over four years since the contract was handed out in 2000, barely five per cent of the construction work could be completed. In the last two years, however, pylons have been erected and concrete segments laid at fever-pace-the bridge is now nearly 60 per cent built.

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