The state public works department (PWD) is expected to go ahead with reconstructing the Manora MLA hostel at Nariman Point as one more firm – Larsen and Toubro – has filed a tender for the ₹853-crore project. Earlier this year, only one company, Shapoorji Pallonji, had submitted its bid.
“Larsen and Toubro and Shapoorji Pallonji have participated in the tender process. The request for qualification and pre-qualification processes is complete and we are studying the main tender documents. Earlier, there was only one firm, so the tender had to be called again. Now we expect the project to move ahead,” PWD’s executive engineer Chandrakant Naik said.
The state government has already spent around ₹100 crore in rent for legislators. As many as 130 of them have been given one room in Akashwani MLA hostel and Old Vidhan Bhavan MLA hostel and they are being paid ₹50,000 a month. The rest of the legislators get ₹1 lakh per month.
Built between 1990 and 1994, the Manora hostel consisted of four towers with 303 rooms. But due to extremely poor construction, plaster started falling off and one tower, D wing, was declared unfit for human inhabitation. The state legislature then decided to pull down all the four towers.
Since the PWD was ill-equipped to handle the reconstruction, the work was given to the National Building Construction Company, a Central government enterprise. However, the work did not progress and it was again handed over to the PWD.
In May 2021, a global tender was issued for the proposed hostel, which will cost ₹853 crore. Earlier, the project was estimated at around ₹600 crore.
The redeveloped Manora hostel is proposed to accommodate 289 MLAs and 78 MLCs, officials said. Each legislator will be given a one-BHK flat admeasuring 600 square feet. There will be an extra 400 square feet area with a dormitory accommodation for the accompanying visitors. The total built-up area of the new hostel will be approximately 7.75 lakh square feet, and the site will also be connected to Colaba-SEEPZ Metro 3.
Mumbai had four MLA hostels – Akashwani, Majestic, Old Vidhan Bhavan and Manora. Now Manora is completely razed while Majestic is undergoing repairs.