1. Mumbai Customs owns a plot of land measuring 55.85 Acres (approximately 226000 SQM), situated at C. S. No. 146 at Wadala East, Mumbai. The department got the said land from CPWD in the year 2003 on 24.10.2003. Presently, Anik Wadala Road & Eastern Freeway runs through the department’s land. Having given up almost 10-11 Acres of total land for Anik-Wadala link Road and Eastern Freeway, currently 45-46 Acres of land is available with department. Also, the existing land lies trifurcated into 24 Acres, 4 Acres & 18 Acres due to passage of Anik-Wadala link Road and Eastern Freeway (Map of the land is enclosed as Annexure-A).
2. The Department has since long been planning to construct office cum residential complex for CBIC on this land. Multiple proposals from different Project Management Consultants (PMCs) have been furnished in the recent past, but owing to unforeseen hurdles along the way, the project couldn’t come off. The proposals had to go through roll backs a couple of times, mostly because of funding issues.
3. Earlier a preliminary estimate of Rs. 1628 Cr. for office complex made by CPWD was furnished for administrative approval and expenditure sanction in 2016, but Revenue Secretary had advised to go for PPP mode to avoid financial burden on the government. For the purpose, NBCC was engaged to execute the project on self-sustaining (PPP) model.
4. The Board also engaged Sh. Ajay Saxena as PPP expert to get specialized advice on self -sustaining project model. Several proposals were made by NBCC to construct office cum residential complex on self sustainable model, all aiming to suffice the requirement of CBIC, CBDT, ED, Directorates, including provisioning of school and hospital within the premises. However, denial of premium waiver by Government of Maharashtra on 23.10.2018 including hurdles viz. Real estate market condition, RERA compliance etc., the viability of the project was jeopardised.
5. Under the circumstances, the Revenue Secretary was apprised of the viability issues of previous models in Wadala project along with apprehensions of losing the empty land towards the State Govt., especially the Metro project coming up in the area shortly. The Revenue Secretary has approved to go with deposit work model through CPWD. The CPWD, vide their Letter dated 05.03.2019, has submitted the Preliminary Estimate for:
(i) Construction of office complex, having total covered area of 68575 sqm, with the cost of construction of Rs. 495.5 Crores; and
(ii) Construction of 769 nos. of residential quarters from Type-II to Type-VIII and a sports complex with the cost of construction of Rs. 499 Crores.
6. The P/Es submitted by CPWD was forwarded to DGHRD on 05.03.2019. The detailed proposal in the prescribed proforma, along with draft PIB memorandum was sent to DGHRD, vide letter dated 14.03.2019 for Administrative Approval and Expenditure Sanction of the competent authority.
7. Further, on the lines of IFU’s suggestions, component of sports complex including community hall, Cafeteria, Gymnasium, Indoor badminton Court, Outdoor Tennis & Football Court etc. was deleted and revised proposal with project cost of Rs. 975.73 Crores has been forwarded to DGHRD on 27.05.2019, thereby saving Rs. 18.25 Crores.
The details of the revised proposal are as under:
(i) Construction of Office Complex having Carpet Area of 30000 Sqm. (approx.) with total area of 68575 sqm. involving cost of construction of
is Rs. 495.41 Crores. Detail of offices proposed to be shifted is enclosed as Annexure-B. Calculation of office area is enclosed as Annexure-C.
(ii) Construction of 769 Residential Quarters from type-II to Type-VIII with a cost of construction of Rs. 480.32 Crores.
| Type of Quarters | No. of quarters |
| II | 180 |
| III | 300 |
| IV | 210 |
| V | 35 |
| VI | 35 |
| VII | 7 |
| VIII | 2 |
| 769 |
10. After completion of scrutiny at the level of IFU, the file has been submitted to Department of Expenditures post approval from Revenue Secretary for further scrutiny and PIB (Public Investment Board) meeting. Final approval is to be done by the Competent Authority (Finance Minister).
11. DOE has also made some observations on the project, received by this office vide DGHRD Letter dated 26.07.2019 (Annexure-D). The reply of the same has been submitted to DGHRD vide Letter dated 27.07.2019 (Annexure-E).
12. As per latest update from DGHRD, the file is pending with IFU for want of comments from NITI Aayog.
Other Relevant Facts
1.Security:
There are slum settlements in the vicinity, which poses potential encroachment threats over the land. Therefore, the department has engaged 35 personnel from Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC), a state PSU, for security of the Wadala land. The current engagement period is valid upto September 2019.
For further extension of engagement of MSSC for security at Wadala, JS/Admn, CBIC has been requested, vide Letter dated 12.07.2019, to consider continuing the engagement of MSSC on nomination basis from October-2019 to September-2020 for deployment of 35 security personnel at Customs Enclave Plot, Wadala and accord Administrative approval and Expenditure sanction of Rs. 1,18,09,440/- for above period, inclusive of GST.
A regular monitoring of the security of the land is ensured through regular visit of the site by Wadala team and also sometimes by superior officers.
2. Boundary Wall:
The boundary wall of the plot of 4 Acres and 24 Acres, parallel to the freeway, was demolished during the construction of the eastern freeway and MMRDA. It has been assured though, that they will get it repaired. MMRDA have issued some tenders for the said repairing in past, but due to technical issues the tenders could not get actualized. Recently, a visit to MMRDA office was also made by superior officers for expediting the same.
Minor repairs of boundary wall alongside the slum settlement has been done only recently through local vendor considering our expediency and the potential encroachments.
Updated on 20.08.2019