A joint venture (JV) of Reliance Infrastructure and Italian company Astaldi has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Versova-Bandra Sea Link Project at Mumbai, located in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Issued by the Maharashtra State Road Development (MSRDC), the contract was awarded to the JV after it emerged as the most competitive bidder valuing Rs69.94bn ($1.04bn).

Reliance Infrastructure EPC CEO Arun Gupta said: “Our JV with Astaldi, the third biggest construction player in the world in bridges with an order backlog of over Rs. two lakh crore (Rs2,000bn), will help us create a truly world-class mega infrastructure project for Mumbai.”

To be situated nearly 900m-1,800m from the Mumbai city coast, the new sea link will be around 17.7km long, involving a combination of complex works at sea and stretch.

“The project connecting Versova and Branda will be approximately three times the length of the existing 5.6km-long Bandra-Worli Sea Link.”

The project connecting Versova and Branda will be approximately three times the length of the existing 5.6km-long Bandra-Worli Sea Link.

The main bridge of the project will involve building a cable-stayed bridge, as well as three bridges of variable section, carrying a main span of 100m to ensure navigation in the region.

Construction works are expected to begin soon and will continue for 60 months. Furthermore, maintenance activities for two years are also being planned.

These construction works will be financed from the state funds.

As well as Reliance Infrastructure and Astaldi, the other entities who placed their bids for the project were L&T-Samsung JV and Hyundai Development Company-ITD JV.