Mumbai's infra projects ready to roll in 2016

After a non-so-eventful year, 2016 is set to bring "acche din" for Mumbaikars as far as infrastructure projects in both road and rail transport are concerned. Some railway projects, work on which began years ago, are expected to fructify in the New Year, while work on the ground is expected to begin on Metro corridors that will help decongest arterial roads in the western suburbs and island city in the long run.

The Monorail corridor, which missed several deadlines, is expected to be opened up to Jacob Circle in May 2016. A senior MMRDA official said "The Monorail, which operates on an 8.8km stretch since February 2014, will run on a stretch of 20km. It will take the load away from road transport and the suburban rail corridor."

Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) on the other hand, plans to undertake yard-modification work in February at CST. Central Railway, which operates services at CST, plans to switch the Harbour line to 25KV Alternating Current from existing the 1500 KV DC. "We hope to roll out 12-car services on the Harbour line by May. This will increase the carrying capacity of trains, which now run with 9-car, by 33%," a senior MRVC official added. MRVC also plans to extend the Harbour line up to Goregaon by June 2016. A WR official said, "The extended line will help us divert some services to this corridor, especially between Bandra and Andheri and decongest the slow corridor on the Main line."

Work on three major railway corridors is also likely to begin. MMRDA has already invited tenders for Metro VII (Dahisar-Andheri). A MMRDA official said, "Work on the corridor can begin after the monsoon." DMRC will execute the work on Phase I (DN Nagar to Andheri) of Dahisar-Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd corridor. The official said, "DMRC is expected to float tenders soon and work on this project will also begin around October."

Bids for the Metro III corridor (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) are expected to be awarded before the end of the financial year. However, there is still uncertainty if the Kanjurmarg-Seepz line will be merged with this corridor as the issue of a depot for Metro III is yet to be sorted out.

The Mumbai Transharbour Link (MTHL) project may also gain momentum as MMRDA hopes to execute the loan agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding 80% of the project, by March 2016. A BMC official said, "We will submit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report in a month. Thereafter, we plan to begin the process to float the tenders. Soon, we will also begin reclamation along with other ancillary work."

Source: magicbricks.com

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