Plans to extend link to Khopoli from Nhava and connect it with the Expressway.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will take over the biggest and most delayed infrastructure project — the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans Harbour Link.
An MMRDA official said the authority has proposed to extend the 22km link, planned to connect Sewri to Chirle village in Nhava, to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, adding another 28km to it.
The MMRDA will be the sole agency owning and executing the project, the official said. “A government resolution (GR) is expected once the chief minister is briefed about the development this week,” he said. “We had a meeting with the Union surface transport secretary at Mantralaya on Monday. The Centre is likely to share some of the cost.”
The project has been on paper for almost four decades now. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation was supposed to implement it at a cost of Rs6,000 crore. “Since the MSRDC was in financial doldrums, we took up the project,” another official said.
“If the project were to be executed by one organisation and owned by another, it would have created unwanted problems. Also, the MSRDC tried two financial models — the cash contract and build-operate-transfer (BOT) — and both failed to generate any interest.”
So, how is MMRDA’s proposal different from that of the MSRDC?
According to officials, the project needs to be made more viable to interest infrastructure builders. “With the MTHL being stretched by another 28km, it will join the Mumbai-Pune Expressway somewhere near Khopoli,” one of the officials said. “This may increase the project’s cost by another Rs500 crore. But the connectivity will be much better.”
The trans-harbour link may not get a metro line simultaneously, however. “We will first build six lanes [three on either side] with a provision for one more on either side,” the official said. “These additional lanes will be used to build the metro line once the surrounding area are developed.”
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