Mumbai moves: First stretches of Metro, Monorail start this year

Two years on, the contract is in the process of being closed due to differences between the government and the developer over issues such as payment of viability gap funding.

There is no clarity either on whether the idea of having a western freeway of sea links will be replaced with the plan for a coastal road around Mumbai — a project being strongly pushed by the state government — through a combination of reclamation, construction on stilts, and tunnels.

Construction of the 32-km Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro, which was to be operational by 2014, has not even begun due a standoff between the MMRDA and a Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium in charge of construction over issues such as lack of suitable land for a car shed and handing over complete right of way.

There is also a school of thought within the state government favouring conversion of the project from an elevated Metro into an underground one, but no formal decision has been taken yet.

COMING UP THIS YEAR

Metro

Elevated Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, 11.4 km, 12 stations. The trip from the city's western suburbs to the eastern suburbs will come down to 20 minutes from the current 90 minutes by road. The Metro will carry an average six lakh passengers a day at a fare 1½ times the public bus fare. The project will give Mumbai its second cable-stayed bridge, 21 m high. The Metro is being built by the Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd on a public-private partnership. Construction started in February 2008 and the initial deadline was 2011.

Monorail

Expected by August. An 8.3-km stretch between Chembur and Wadala will be the first phase of the 20-km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle corridor. The completed corridor will be the second-longest in the world, behind Japan's Osaka corridor. Rather than serving as a mass rapid transit system, experts see the Rs-2,700-crore monorail as a feeder service to suburban railway stations such as Chembur, Wadala and Mahalakshmi. Each air-conditioned rake will be able to carry only 562 passengers — 852 if the MMRDA decides to increase the rakes from four to six. A consortium of Larsen & Toubro and Malaysia's Scomi Engineering is building the monorail. Construction started in November 2008 and the line was originally expected to be ready by 2011.

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