Dinesh Kamath's news item 'When will work on metro line get completed?' that was published in Newsband

When will work on metro line get completed?

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Due to Navi Mumbai's growing population and the anticipated future demand for public transport, the government envisaged developing metro rail corridors in Navi Mumbai in addition to the suburban rail system and bus based public transport system, in order to establish better North-South and East-West connectivity between all the residential nodes, and to improve connectivity with Mumbai's transportation system. It is the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which after a study had proposed connectivity by metro rail, due to various merits on account of it being energy efficient, pollution free and occupying less land space as compared to other modes of transport. The DMRC proposed six metro corridors in Navi Mumbai, but out of these, Uran-Ranjanpada-Nerul and Ranjanpada-Kharkopar-Seawoods were later decided to be made as suburban railway corridors. In total five lines were finalized for development in phases.

The Navi Mumbai Metro project received formal approval on 29 April 2010, and a public hearing on 21 May 2010 reported no major objections to the plan. CIDCO was authorised as the implementing agency of the Belapur-Pendhar-Kalamboli-Khandeshwar line, under the Indian Tramway Act 1886, by the Government of Maharashtra on 30 September 2010. The state government later asked the CIDCO to implement the Navi Mumbai Metro project under the Central Metro Act. The metro's foundation stone was laid on 1 May 2011 by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, and general foundation work on the system's first phase commenced in October 2011. In March 2012, CIDCO released the metro's complete master plan, including a proposed connection to the Mumbai Metro. Following the approval for the implemention of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, the master plan of Navi Mumbai’s connectivity was reviewed. A final list of 5 corridors was finalized based upon DMRC and LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd's recommendations.

However, in February 2013, thousands of villagers in the Navi Mumbai area protested against CIDCO's inaction on local housing developments and its failure to provide restitution for locals affected by infrastructure projects. The protesters pledged to even shut down the CIDCO head office and all development projects in the region. These would include the metro project and any progress on the airport project.

However, it was decided that work on CBD Belapur-Pendhar metro line would be completed first. But the 11-km CBD Belapur-Pendhar metro line is not yet ready. There are people who are questioning as to when it will get ready. The work on this metro line was to start from 2014. But it seems the date of commencement of the work will need to be pushed forward.

The City Industrial & Development Corporation (CIDCO) has confirmed that there is bound to be a delay in starting the work on this project. CIDCO has asked the bidders to forward their tenders and the last date for this will be October 30.

The project ought to have been completed before 2014 since that was the order given by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan while inaugurating the railway project.

The residents who were eagerly waiting for this project to start and get completed are most disappointed. Many are blaming the administration for not being able to make proper decisions. They are fed up with the slow pace in which the administration is pursuing this issue. Another reason for the delay is the absence of a managing director in CIDCO for a long time. But the residents feel that now there will not be more delay in taking up the work on this project since CIDCO is now equipped with an MD as well as joint MD. The appointment of Sanjay Bhatia as MD and V Radha as joint MD of CIDCO has given hopes to the residents of the city who feel that now the administration of the city is in the right hands. They expect some transparency to be there.  

It is the CIDCO which is building the Rs 2,000 crore project in the city. The first phase of metro is from Belapur to Pendhar. The work on this will consist of four stages. They are works on viaduct, station building development, construction of depot and the building of telecommunication and signaling. The work on viaduct and station development has been done to a certain extent. But there is yet a long way to go and one can’t predict as to when exactly this project will get completed although many speculations are being made in this regard.