MMRDA decisions on Monorail questionable: Study

The first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala is a wastage of public money and the decisions taken by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) since the announcement of the project and during the bidding process were questionable, reveals a independent study conducted by a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The case study reveals that public demand for Monorail was not the major driving force for it. Political, and economic factors had a vital role to play in the decision making process of Mumbai Monorail.

The study was conducted by Guruprasad Kamble, a postgraduate student of Urban Policy and Governance at TISS. He spoke to transport experts, MMRDA officials, and scanned official records and plans of Mumbai Monorail.

The study adds there was considerable amount of mismatch between what was promised while planning the Monorail project and existing ground reality. The main objective of making Monorail a feeder system to the existing transport network in Mumbai has not been accomplished at all.

The study adds that if one understands route alignment and phasing of Monorail, they would raise questions on whether MMRDA really wanted to de-congest pockets of the city. This contention is based on the fact that the project was started in the rather vacant Eastern corridor of the city.

"It seems that Monorail phase-1 was not planned to cater to the transportation needs of the people. Rather, it served the MMRDA interest of opening up the eastern corridor for development to spur economic growth," one chapter of the study mentions.

The ridership of Monorail's first phase stands at a mere 15,000 commuters daily. However, this is expected to go up to 1 lakh commuters daily once both the phases are made operational between Chembur and Jacob Circle.

The first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala was made operational in 2014, which was shut after an empty coach of Monorail caught fire in November 2017. The second phase of Monorail between Wadala and Jacob Circle will become operational in a few months.

Kamble said, "My aim was to understand the whole planning process that was undertaken for constructing Mumbai Monorail. But, while conducting the study I realised that plans were changed frequently changed without giving much thought to them."

The study also concluded that public were not consulted when the project was in its planning stage. The implication of such a top-down approach was that the MMRDA ended up creating an inaccessible and disconnected public transport system. Due to poor planning and implementation of the project, the future of Monorail in Mumbai and India has been affected, the study concludes.

THE STATUS NOW

• The ridership of Monorail’s first phase stands at a mere 15,000 commuters daily. This is expected to go up to 1 lakh once both phases become operational. 
   
• Phase-II between Wadala and Jacob Circle to be operational soon.