The Maharashtra government has entrusted engineering major Larsen & Toubro with construction of a memorial to Maratha king Shivaji in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast on the lines of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
The state government handed over a ‘letter of acceptance’ to L&T on Thursday in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil made an announcement in this regard in the state legislative council.
The state government had received three bids for the project, of which the bid presented by Larsen & Tubro was accepted after it qualified in the final step of the bidding process. A committee headed by the chief secretary discussed the finer aspects of the bid with the project management consultants and the bidder, and after considering the legal opinions the bid was finalised at `2,500 crore plus GST, Patil said in his statement in the council.
Construction of the memorial on 6.8 hectares of a submerged island would be completed in three years. It will include Shivaji’s statue, which will be 210 metres high, a jetty, and a museum. Twelve ‘no-objection certificates have been acquired from the agencies concerned for the project and an environment impact assessment has been completed, the minister added.
Chief Minister Fadnavis directed the company’s officials to initiate the work before the monsoon rains begin. “The memorial had been conceived for more than 15 years. Today is a historic moment in the process of its completion,” Fadnavis said.
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