BergerWorld: 3rd Quarter 2005

Mumbai is India's largest city with a growing urban population of 13 million. Currently, the crowded suburban rail system carries up to six million passengers per day from the northern and eastern suburbs into the city center. To reduce overcrowding on the trains and meet the goals of the ambitious $1 billion Mumbai Urban Transport Project, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) is introducing a 14-kilometer elevated mass rapid transit line with 12 stations between Versova, a growing suburb, and the industrial center of Ghatkopar.

The line will be implemented as a public-private partnership, with the MMRDA providing a capital grant and holding equity in the proposed 35-year build-own-operate-transfer concession. The Berger Group assisted the MMRDA in selecting a concessionaire and preparing a shareholders' agreement. The Berger team reviewed

the request for proposal, preliminary designs, bid documents and supporting data and assisted in organizing the pre-bid proposal conference. The Team then evaluated the technical bids and developed the final concession agreements for the MMRDA. Berger experts will also evaluate the financial proposals during the second stage of the bidding process.

Berger team members are also assisting the MMRDA in obtaining government clearance for the work and in acquiring land for the rail link. In the densely populated city of Mumbai, this includes relocating more than 14,000 people. Team members assisted MMRDA officials in preparing specific resettlement plans and working with private organizations and other government agencies to offer the citizens a generous resettlement package, including a 225-square-foot apartment free of cost.