Metro set to miss November deadline

Mumbaikars may have to wait for a longer time for the first metro rail corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar to be commissioned with Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials admitting that the November 2012 deadline may be overshot.

MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana said the time to be taken for the completion of the Rs2,356 crore Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor depended on the power blocks to be given by the railways for the construction of a bridge over the railway tracks at Andheri station.

The project is 80% complete. Asthana admitted that November was a “very optimistic estimate”and added that this deadline could be met “only if everything goes well.”

“Officially, I am saying I don’t know,” said Asthana, when asked about the possible date of completion.

The MMRDA needs the power block to place a 183-metre steel bridge and its columns over the railway tracks. The steel bridge is in three pieces of 61 meters each. Asthana said the project would be completed this year “if blocks are given to us as we want.”

He, however, said he did not want to blame the railways for this and pointed to the chaos in the city in case of such blocks, including the one during the recent conversion of the Western Railway’s electric network from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC). “But, we must find a way out,” Asthana added.