India
Fadnavis added that the state government has already approved the all-important State Support Agreement (SSA).
Updated : Aug 15, 2016, 12:40 AM IST
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, during an interaction with journalists at dna's Mumbai office on Sunday, said the decks for the elevated corridors from CST to Panvel on Central Railway (CR) and Bandra to Virar on Western Railway (WR) have been cleared.
The CM said the state government has already approved the all-important State Support Agreement (SSA). It was the non-signing of this SSA by the previous government in May 2012 that led to the collapse of the Oval Maidan-Churchgate-Virar (OCV) corridor.
Fadnavis told dna that the Niti Aayog has given in-principle approval to the Bandra-Virar project and the plans for the CST-panvel line have also been submitted for approval. The CM said he was confident that the approval for the latter would also come in quickly.
"My government is committed to these two projects and has signalled all help to the railways to build these two corridors as fast as possible. The state and the railways ensured that the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) were ready within four months. The process to get approvals from the Niti Aayog was also put in place quickly," said Fadnavis. He, however, did not give the exact date on which the state expected the construction of the corridors to start.
The CM's statement was expected to give a new lease of life to the projects, both of which have been meandering for some time because of lack of will from the railways as well as the state.
The elevated Churchgate-Virar corridor's demise was all the more stunning because the railways had tried its best to make the project feasible. The requirement of acquiring private buildings – a nightmare in Mumbai – was scaled down from 52,800sqm to 1,170sqm, a massive reduction of 98%. The need for acquiring private land was brought down from 10.69 hectares to 2.23 hectares, a reduction of 79%.
Timeline for elevated corridor
Feb 2008: Announced for the first time in the railway budget
Jun 2011: WR accepts feasibility report on project
Jul 2011: MMRDA terms project's Mahalaxmi-Churchgate route 'not feasible'
Nov 2011: Joint Task Force comprising UDD, MMRDA, BMC and WR officials formed
May 2012: State and Railways fail to sign State Support Agreement
Jan 2015: Railways mull over Virar-Andheri elevated corridor
Feb 2016: Railways revives elevated corridor project
Apr 2016: Minister Prabhu announces plans for Bandra-Virar elevated corridor
Reduction in vehicle trips per day
CST-Panvel: 6 lakh
Churchgate-Virar: 7.7 lakh
Reduction in CO2 emission per day
CST-Panvel: 7.55 tonnes
Churchgate-Virar: 41 tonnes