Railway minister Suresh Prabhu's tweet on his talk with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis about a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to speed up state railway projects has raised its fair share of smirks among city-based railway officials.
"What exactly is Mumbai Vikas Railway Corporation (MRVC) if not an SPV, jointly owned by railways and Maharashtra government?" asked one senior railway official.
MRVC was incorporated in July 1999 with equity from the railways and the state in the ratio 51:49. The mandate was to execute railway projects under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project, which in turn was coordinated by MMRDA. The planning and development of Mumbai's suburban railway system was also entrusted to MRVC.
"It's the perfect vehicle for growth of railway infrastructure in the city. A company that will coordinate with both Central and Western Railways and also the state government. In fact top MMRDA and urban development department bureaucrats are on MRVC board. What has been the end result?" asked an official.
After almost a decade of being neck deep in work, the MRVC today finds itself in a position where there is nothing in the pipeline once some of its current projects get completed. Officials at MRVC said the future looks a lot like its pre-2006 days, when there was hardly any work and the corridors of the agency's Churchgate headquarters wore a deserted look.
Some of MRVC's big projects have entered the last leg and are expected to be completed by the middle or end of next year. Since railway projects generally take more than a year to get off the ground, officials at MRVC said unless both the state and the railways move quickly, the city might see a slow-moving couple of years 2015 onwards.
The only sliver of hope for the MRVC is that the state government and Centre might get together to finally kick-start the third phase of Mumbai Urban Transport Project — an ambitious project that will see works worth Rs52,000 crore being carried out till 2031 to rejuvenate the suburban system.
"Announcing an SPV isn't going to help. It is important that coordination between the state and the railways is up to the mark. If that is the case, then we really don't need any SPV. Even the zonal railways can execute projects and make them work," said the official.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}