Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan on Wednesday urged the Centre to declare the `9,630 crore Mumbai Trans Harbour link (MTHl) project as a “national project” and provide substantial financial assistance for its execution.
Chavan, who led a delegation of Ministers from Maharashtra, broached the MTHl project issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at a 90-minute meeting held at the latter’s 7, Race Course Road residence.
Chavan, who was accompanied among others by his deputy Ajit Pawar and State Chief Secretary JK Banthia, also discussed issues relating to the projects like the Greenfield Navi Mumbai Airport, International Airport at Chakan, Pune, Churchgate —Virar Elevated Suburban Rail Corridor, shifting of the location of Doppler Radar in Mumbai, Metro Corridor-III Colaba-Bandra SEEPZ, Salt Pan land, Indu Mills land, with the Prime Minister.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia were present at the meeting.
Chavan’s request to the Centre for declaring the MTHl project as a “national project” should be seen in the light of the fact that the Union Finance Ministry had, in third week of January this year, sanctioned the Viability Gap Funding (VFP) amounting to `1,920 crore for this project.
The sanction had come a week after the Shipping Ministry-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) cleared the last of hurdles to the project by announcing issuance of a No Objection Certificate to it, the Union Finance Ministry sanctioned the VFP for the MTHl, a 22-km sea bridge linking the metropolis with Navi Mumbai across the Arabian Sea.