MMRDA under debt ₹60,000 Cr debt, projects undertaken without thought: Jayant Patil

MMRDA under debt ₹60,000 Cr debt, projects undertaken without thought: Jayant Patil

“Declaring new projects is an eyewash. How will you generate the money? That answer should have come during the budget session, but it hasn’t come until now,” Patil said.

Kalpesh MhamunkarUpdated: Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 11:54 PM IST
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Maharashtra: MMRDA to build bridge linking Satpati-Murbe in Palghar district | file pic

Mumbai: Once one of the richest government bodies, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is now under Rs60,000 crore debt, said former water resource minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil during the Assembly session. 

Targeting the state government, Patil said it has declared projects worth Rs5,000 crore in the budget but the project implementation body, MMRDA, continues to avail loans. “Declaring new projects is an eyewash. How will you generate the money? That answer should have come during the budget session, but it hasn’t come until now,” Patil said.

Project cost of Metro 3 increased by 50%

Patil said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its report, also said that Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) didn’t publish tenders on the Central public procurement portal. “The CAG also said that the estimated cost of many tenders was inflated and MMRCL availed loans in dollars from foreign banks,” said Patil, who further targeted the state for making false promises to people of Maharashtra. “The project cost of Metro 3 has increased by 50% in a year, which is Rs4,000 crore,” he said. 

Alleging that projects have been undertaken for “an event”, Patil said, “If there’s an intention to complete the projects, then the government would have arranged the funds first.”

The NCP leader also targeted the government over the breaking of the BMC’s fixed deposits and said that it thinks it now has the “key to BMC locker”. “Spending money indiscriminately on works like Mumbai beautification by liquidating the fixed deposits is being done to deliberately bring down Mumbai,” he said.

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