The government plans to utilise the experience of the body which is credited with the creation of the signature Delhi metro railway network for constructing a similar mass rapid transport system in Mumbai, which has densely built-up areas.
Prime minister Narendra Modi may conduct the ground-breaking ceremony for two planned metro lines — Andheri East-Dahisar East and Dahisar-DN Nagar — on October 4. The state government is planning to hand over the work on one of these two lines to the experienced Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
The government plans to utilise the experience of the body which is credited with the creation of the signature Delhi metro railway network for constructing a similar mass rapid transport system in Mumbai, which has densely built-up areas. The DMRC is also the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's (MMRDA's) consultant for the updating Metro Master plan in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and now it may also get to work on another proposed Metro railway arm.
"The DMRC is ready to undertake work on Metro railway lines up to 30 to 35 km… they may take up difficult corridors considering their experience in this regard," said a senior state government official, adding that work on one of these two lines to be launched by the prime minister may be given to the agency. The other line, work on which may be executed by the DMRC, could be the Bandra-Mankhurd route. This will be done on a "cost plus percentage basis," with the DMRC also getting consultancy fees.
However, the plans for ground-breaking by the prime minister is at a discussion stage with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and is likely to get formalised only sometime next week.
"As per the ongoing plans, construction of one of the two Metro lines (Andheri East-Dahisar East and Dahisar-DN Nagar) will be handed over to DMRC, whereas MMRDA will construct the other line with DMRC being the prime consultant to guide during the construction phase," said a state official.
"This is an initiative of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who visited the DMRC headquarters earlier this year," the official said. He added that the MMRDA planned to first undertake work on the construction of viaducts on the two routes, ground-breaking on which would be conducted by PM Narendra Modi, while tying up funding for other components like rolling stock. The viaducts made up around 40% of the project cost.
"Funding is not a problem as a number of international financial institutions are interested. For instance, the German government owned KfW will fund the Nagpur metro while Japanese International Cooperation Agency and China are interested in funding infra projects in Mumbai like the MTHL," the official noted.
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