Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said the state government would have to spend Rs 2,70,000 crore to beef up Mumbai’s transport infrastructure over the next 20 years to keep pace with rising demand.

The state government’s 2031 plan based on a feasibility study by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) includes metrorail, mono rail, sea link and water transport. Chavan was addressing a gathering at a conference on “Infrastructure Development in Mumbai Region” organised by the Indian Merchant’s Chamber here.

“The estimated investment of $50 billion ( Rs 2,70,000 crore) is based on a comprehensive transportation study conducted by MMRDA. The total cost of the infrastructure projects comprising metrorail and monorail, currently undertaken by MMRDA is over Rs 26,000 crore,” said Chavan.

The study focuses on infrastructure in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Out of the total projects planned, 80 per cent will be used for transportation that includes 450 km of road, 250 km of suburban railway and another 1,700 km of roads. Chavan said the Coastal Road Project, one of the most ambitious project in Maharashtra, is also on the anvil.

Chavan said Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) was the most important challenge for infrastructure projects. He said 40,000 families had been rehabilitated under various projects of MMRDA. Apart from environment issues, Chavan said financial restructuring was a problem, especially with issues like Viability Gap Funding (VGP) involved. “The strength of the city is its human resources. For maintaining their quality of life, a good transportation system is of utmost necessity.”

Throwing light on some of the prominent infrastructure projects, Metropolitan Commissioner of Mumbai Rahul Asthana said the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) flagship project, which was bid unsuccessfully twice, would be put for bid again in May 2012. The contract would be awarded by a estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

“MMRDA plans to compensate the build operate transfer (BOT) operator of the proposed MTHL project in case of low toll collection against the projections. However, in case of higher toll collection, the BOT operator needs to share benefits with MMRDA. Besides, MMRDA proposes to provide long tenure soft loan to BOT operator and also compensate L2 and L3 bidders for the cost of bidding. This is to encourage more players to participate in the bidding process.”

Chavan said the Mumbai Metro Rail project, having nine lines will be implemented in three phases at a cost of Rs 47,000 crore. The first phase of the project in he Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2012, at a cost of Rs 2,356 crore. The Metro Line 2, Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd, which entails an investment of Rs 7,660 crore, has achieved financial closure on March 14. The civil work is expected to begin from October. Metro III is now extended upto airport from Colaba where the entire stretch will be underground and would cost Rs 18,000 crore.

Source: business-standard.com