'Mumbai Eye' maybe shifted from Bandra reclamation; construction to get delayed

The construction of the ‘Mumbai Eye’, touted to be a replication of the massively popular London Eye, might be shifted to another location.

The proposed replication was earlier said to come on the 1.5-acre land in the Bandra reclamation site. However, according to sources, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), is looking for other locations after several bidders, back in February, complained of the proposed site not being adequate enough.  

The Uddhav Thackeray-led government had earlier discussed the 13-year-old plan to construct the Mumbai Eye in a bid to attract more tourists to the site. As a consequence, the MMRDA had stated a tender for expression of interest (EOI) back in the month of January. Moreover, twenty-three bidders across the globe have expressed interest.

However, during the pre-bidding, at least 16 representatives had raised issues regarding the construction site and stated that the reclamation site was not suited for the project.

Meanwhile, as per media reports, Mumbai’s operational metro corridor, Metro one, built on public-private partnership, with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure might be taken over by MMRDA as well. MMRDA has 26 per cent stake in Mumbai Metro One PVT LTD which runs the metro while Reliance holds 69 per cent of the stake. Since, 2014, it has operated on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor.