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Metro routes planned by MMRDA may see on-ground metro

While the costs of the first two metro corridors under construction in Mumbai at the moment is Rs200 crore on average, the estimated costs of the 14 new metro routes declared by the MMRDA is in the range of Rs115 to Rs145 crore per km.

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Among the 14 new metro routes planned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) across the metropolitan region, some may turn out to be the first ‘at grade’ (running on the ground) metro lines in the country. However architect and activist Nitin Killawala has claimed that the difference between costs per kilometre in metro systems should be put to question.

While the costs of the first two metro corridors under construction in Mumbai at the moment is Rs200 crore on average, the estimated costs of the 14 new metro routes declared by the MMRDA is in the range of Rs115 to Rs145 crore per km.

A senior official of the authority revealed that some of the metro routes planned will be running at grade and not elevated or underground. “The alignments are going through virgin land with very little impediments in between the Right Of Way (RoW). And since some of the lines will be at grade, the cost of construction will be much less,” said the official.

Meanwhile, Killawala argued that finances of the Public Private Partnership or PPP model partners (the Reliance Infrastructure-led consortiums in the case of the Mumbai Metro) are protected at high costs. “In the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhur route, for which a PPP contract was signed way back in 2009 with Reliance Infra, the estimated cost is Rs360 crore/km for an elevated metro,” said Killawala, pointing out that the costs of the MMR metro was much less.

A top source in the authority did agree that the PPP model was resulting in higher cost, but said that the decision was taken at the highest levels.

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