Maharashtra budget: Floating jetty at Gateway only new infrastructural project

How serious is the state government about making Mumbai a world class city? The political talk may be full of dreams but, in reality, there is little that is being done. This was yet again proved in the state budget announced by deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday.

The city will get a floating jetty at the Gateway of India at the cost of Rs5 crore, announced finance minister Ajit Pawar in his state budget speech on Wednesday. Apart from this, however, there was no mention of any other significant new project.

The state government is already getting funds from the centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Pawar said that Rs2,500 crore will be allocated for the improvement of urban infrastructure, but he only briefly mentioned plans to improve urban infrastructure of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

“For works in progress within the metropolitan region, particularly for the improvement of urban infrastructure, Rs1,400 crore is being spent,” said the minister. There was also a mention about the second metro line’s viability gap, which will be funded by the central government. “We will be given a viability gap funding of Rs1,532 crore for this II,” he said.

Transport expert Sudhir Badami, who has been following up on the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project for a while now, said that the deadline announcement for the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar route was unrealistic.

“Pawar said that the government was looking to open the first corridor by November this year. However, it has spent only about Rs400 crore on the project so far. How can it be completed in such a short period? I feel there are issues of cash flow that may delay the project, and it will not see the light of day before 2012,” Pawar said.

He added: “As far as the new announcements are concerned, the government seems to have completely forgotten projects, such as the BRTS, which are cost effective. The big talk about the first and second lines of the metro is to keep viable projects such as the BRTS at bay.”