He has put in four decades into planning urban and regional transportation systems; roads, railways and airport engineering; and many other infrastructure projects. And from his vast experience, SL Dhingra of IIT-Bombay knows that if the state government goes ahead with the elevated metro, as has been planned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority [MMRDA], the sufferings would be immense for the people. Excerpts of his conversation with DNA:
You have put in a lot of effort into preparing this report. But the authorities seem to be firm on going ahead with the elevated metro plan.
Citizens groups opposed to the elevated Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd corridor wanted me to prepare a report. I have done that. I am not a decision maker. But I have spoken to experts, including E Sreedharan. They too agree that metro should pass underground in congested areas.
Officials say that the elevated metro will cost around Rs200 crore per kilometre, but underground, it will cost Rs600 crore/km.
It is fact that underground metro will cost three times more. But believe me, the excess time that would be taken to build the elevated route, will nullify the lesser expenses. Road barricading, traffic snarls, land acquisitions... there will be too many impediments to the elevated route. By my estimate, the sufferings the elevated route would pose to the citizens will be worth Rs17,000 crore. They could have built an underground metro for much less than that.
Some say that underground metro is not possible as Mumbai is located on the coast.
That is a completely baseless statement. Severalcoastal cities in the world have underground metros. When you reach deep down there, sea level ceases to be an issue. You get hundreds and thousands of metres of space absolutely free. You can even build
an entire underground city down there.
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