L&T takes up Rs.2,500 cr construction contract

The engineering and construction major, L&T has been issued the LoA for the construction of the first phase of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial in the Arabian Sea, Mumbai, at an investment of Rs.2,500 crore. The company has been awarded the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) by Maharashtra government, chairman of the memorial committee, Vinayak Mete said that directions have been issued to initiate the actual construction work before monsoon. The state government has already put in place all the mandatory clearances for the construction of the grand memorial. Prior to this, the project was estimated to cost around Rs.38.26 billion, but now there has been a downward revision in the cost by almost one-third. Interestingly, the latest figure agreed upon by L&T roughly equals the estimates prepared by the state government for the first phase of the project. Sources in L&T confirmed that the company had been issued the LoA for the prestigious project. It may be recalled that last year, L&T was shortlisted at Rs.38.26 billion over the Afcons consortium which quoted Rs.47.79 billion for the project. The equestrian statue of the great Maratha warrior king will come up on a rocky islet around 1.5 km off Marine Drive in south Mumbai, he claimed.