Maharashtra government clears Mankhurd, Kasarvadavali metro projects

Days after terminating its contract for the second metro with Reliance Infrastructure, the Maharashtra government on Thursday cleared two metro projects connecting Dahisar to Mankhurd, and Wadala-Kasarvadavali here.

The Dahisar-Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd (Rs 25,605 crore) and the Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali (Rs 19,097 crore) metro corridors were approved in a MMRDA board meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The decision comes after Reliance Infrastructure's (RInfra) arm Mumbai Metro Transport Private Limited (MMTPL) and the state government cancelled the contract for Rs 12,000 crore Charkop-Bandra-Makhurd Metro corridor.

The Authority also approved four flyovers and a road to ease the daily peak hour traffic at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The cost of the four flyovers and the road is estimated at Rs 227 crore, an official release from the Chief Minister's Office said.

While the 40-km and 36-station DCBM corridor will be entirely underground, the 32-km WGTK corridor will have 24 underground and six elevated stations. These metro corridors will be implemented by the state undertaking Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) within a period of 6-7 years, it said.

Both these metro corridors will be funded by raising 50 per cent of the loan from international agencies while the Centre will provide 20 per cent and the state and MMRDA will pitch 30 per cent of the finance by way of equity and sub debt.