Mumbai : The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has planned to introduce water transport service for passengers between Thane and Belapur via the Thane Creek. MSRDC, which was earlier booted out of the passenger water transport project by the state government, is now on board for the project again.
“We’ve conceptualised the project and we will approach the government with the plan for its approval,” confirmed Radheshyam Mopalwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, MSRDC. The MSRDC, in its board meeting held on September 23, passed a decision to sign a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with Maharashtra Maritime Board and JNPT for the water transport project. Officials of MSRDC said the corporation has done a lot of study and has the expertise to implement the project.
The eastern waterfront of the Thane Creek will be suitable for water transport with catamarans and hovercrafts as the waters are calm. “Transportation service can be made available across the creek throughout the year as tidal currents have no effect on its waters. We plan to initially start the service between Thane and Belapur,” said Mopalwar, adding that the service will take considerable load off the suburban rail network, which is currently the fastest mode of travel.
Earlier, the plan proposed by MSRDC was a Rs 900-crore Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) system for the Eastern Harbour from Ferry Wharf to Nerul and Ferry Wharf to Mandwa. For the West coast it had proposed a Rs 2,000-crore water transport system from Borivli to Nariman Point with stops at Marve, Versova, Juhu and Bandra. But the project was transferred to Maharashtra Maritime Board as it has the necessary “expertise”.
Meanwhile, MMB, Mumbai Port Trust and CIDCO are working on setting up passenger water transport on the eastern waterfront with passenger terminals at Nerul, Ferry Wharf and Mandwa. The civil construction of project is estimated to cost around Rs 600 crore which all three agencies will shell out for their respective terminals.
SWAPNIL RAWAL
