RoRo ships are designed to carry passengers and also vehicles like cars and goods transport units.
To boost connectivity between Mumbai and its extended suburbs like Thane and Mira Bhayender, the state government is planning water transport projects with passenger transport and RoRo facilities on these routes.
RoRo ships are designed to carry passengers and also vehicles like cars and goods transport units.
Once completed, this water transport grid will also enable better connectivity between municipal corporations like the ones at Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayender and Ulhasnagar, which form part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). These civic bodies can operate these vessels on the lines of public bus services run by them to enable commuters and passengers to travel with their vehicles from one point to another.
"We are planning this on the western seaboard... and also on the eastern coast," Atul Patne, CEO, Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), told dna. He added that they had appointed a consultant for starting a passenger and cargo transport system in the Vasai, Jaigad and Rajpuri creeks.
"This RoRo service will be operationalised in areas like Mira Bhayender and Thane where movement is a problem due to traffic congestion... it will also be faster than local trains," Patne said, adding that this would reduce the traffic on the roads and air pollution.
"We can implement the project in such a manner that the municipal corporations can give permissions for passenger stops and we can construct the jetties and appoint operators. These municipal corporations can together or on their own run (this water transport) on the lines of (civic) bus services in cities like Pune and Mumbai," he said.
The MMB board, in its meeting in May, approved nine sites where infrastructure will be created for these RoRo services. These include Borivli, Gorai, Manori (in Mumbai), Sarangaon (near Bhiwandi), Dombivli, Bhayender, Naigaon (near Vasai), Vasai and Ghodbunder.
A senior MMB official said these jetties will be equipped with terminals and will take around one-and-half years to construct once all the required permissions are in place. "The only problem is the low vertical clearance for the railway bridge over the Vasai creek. However, we can run smaller vessels on that route," he added.
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