Number of vehicles in Mumbai touches 18.7 lakh

The total number of motor vehicles in Mumbai and its suburbs has touched the figure of 18.77 lakh, which is about 11% of the total motor vehicles registered in the state.

The latest economic survey of Maharashtra tabled in the state legislature on Tuesday revealed that as of January 1, 2011, the number of vehicles registered in Maharashtra was 170.30 lakh, which means about 15,200 vehicles per lakh population.

Detailing the various infrastructure projects on in the city, the report says that work on the monorail would be complete by July 2011. Of the total project cost of Rs2,460 crore, an amount of Rs652 crore was spent on the project till October 2010.

The report adds that work on phase I of the metro will be completed soon. Of the total project cost of Rs2,356 crore, a sum of Rs309 crore was spent till October 2010.

Giving statistics on the public transport network in Mumbai, the survey said that the number of buses in the BEST fleet had gone up from 3,867 in 2008-09 to 4,078 in 2009-10. However, the number of passengers had gone down from 43.80 lakh in 2008-09 to 43.71 lakh in 2009-10.

The report states that the rail and road components of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) were progressing well, but the deadline of the work on the new Kurla-Thane lines that are being laid down had been extended to June 2011. The initial deadline for the project was March 2011.

The report has also stated that the 27-km Belapur-Uran line, which would make possible a direct suburban train between CST and Uran, would be completed soon. It did not mention a specific deadline. The project has been held up by a land dispute between the railways and the state government.

The report adds that work on 28 of the 36 skywalks had been completed, and construction of eight others was in progress. Of the total project cost of Rs 735 crore, a sum of Rs412 crore had already been spent on the project till October 2010.