MMRDA plans to rent out space on monorail piers
Since construction began in 2008, the pillars for the second phase have been ready for over five years now
Even as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is yet to make the second phase of the monorail between Wadala and Jacob Circle operational, it has now figured that it can at least make some revenue by renting out the space on its piers (pillars) to advertisers.
Since construction began in 2008, the pillars for the second phase have been ready for over five years now. "It would be too early to say how much revenue would be generated from the renting of space on the pillars, but the revenue generated from this would be utilised for infrastructure projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," said Dilip Kawathkar, spokesperson, MMRDA.
The second phase is expected to be made operational in December and the MMRDA is going to approach the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) next month to start conducting the trial runs.
However, this similar attempt of leasing out space for advertisements — last time inside the coaches — did not yield any fruit, as phase one has been beleaguered by low ridership numbers.