 "MMRDA gets 3 bids to prepare master plan for global financial hub")
Even as the Maharashtra and the Central governments are yet to arrive at a consensus over handing over land for the proposed bullet train project, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) today said it has received three bids for preparing a master plan for an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in the tony Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) area here.
The MMRDA has received bids from a consortium of Tata Consulting Engineers and Townland Consultants of Hong Kong, INI Design Studio of Ahmedabad, and Ramboll and Henning Larsen Architects of Denmark, the state-run planning agency said.
The Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra is pushing for an IFSC at the BKC to make the State a global financial hub.
The bidders will prepare a master plan for the project, MMRDA said.
The IFSC project came under controversy over the location of originating station of the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train that will cost nearly Rs 1 trillion, most of which will be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Officials from the Railways, Maharashtra and the MMRDA have held meetings to break the stalemate but there has been no solution. It is expected that the consultants will sit together and work out a solution.
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The Railways has proposed to construct an underground station for the showpiece bullet train at the spot in BKC where the state has identified 50 acres for the IFSC.
The bullet train project needs only under 20 acres of this for its underground station.
The State Government, however, has been reluctant to provide the land, having planned the IFSC on the vacant land in the business district located in suburbs.