Mumbai: The newly-sworn Eknath Shinde-led government have major tasks ahead of fast-track implementation of a slew of infrastructure projects worth over Rs 3 lakh crore, completion of long-pending irrigation projects, the Marathwada water grid project and commissioning of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which has missed several deadlines.
Shinde, who had held the urban development and public works (MSRDC) portfolios in the previous government, will now have to resolve the Metro card shed project for Colaba SEEPZ on a priority basis after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government scrapped the Aarey site and is currently locked in a court battle over the new Kanjurmarg site. The project is running behind schedule and there has also been cost overrun. This apart, a total of over 370-km of Metro rail network under various stages of implementation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will have to be expedited.
The MVA government had set an ambitious target of completion of the Rs 12,000-crore Mumbai Coastal Road and the Rs 18,000-crore Mumbai Trans Harbour Project by December 2023. The Shinde-led government will have to see that the deadline is not missed as both these projects are important to reduce traffic congestion and improve connectivity.
Further, Shinde, who was personally supervising the commencement of operations on the Rs 55,000-crore Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Marg, would have to avoid further delays. The first phase was to be commissioned on May 1 but it had to be deferred due to a local mishap.
Moreover, the new chief minister would need to focus on timely completion of the Rs 6,600-crore Mumbai-Pune missing link by the end of this year. The work on the bridge of Rs 775-crore Thane creek is being executed by L&T and it will be completed in the next two years.
In addition, the new state government will have to start implementing a slew of projects assigned to MSRDC comprising Pune Ring Road (Rs 26,000 crore), Jalna-Nanded section of Samruddhi MahaMarg (Rs 7,000 crore), Konkan Expressway (Rs 72,000 crore), Sagari MahaMarg (Rs 10,000 crore) and Virar-Alibaug Multimodal corridor (Rs 40,000 crore). In addition, Varsova-Virar is a long-term project (Rs 32,000 crore).
