Mumbai: The proposed eight-lane Alibaug-Virar multi-modal corridor pegged at the construction cost of Rs 19,000 crore will have 7.5 metres of 'utility passageway' on both ends of the road, according to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). This would mean that utility providers like gas, petrol, electricity, and so on, would be allowed to put their lines. In lieu of this, companies will be charged a certain amount of money as revenue. The generated revenue will be utilised to recover the project cost. Interestingly, on the Mumbai -Nagpur super communication expressway too, three metres of space for the 'utility corridor' on both sides of the road has been put to earn revenue out of it.
The MMRDA is the nodal agency for the Alibaug-Virar corridor project. A senior official speaking about the project stated, "We are in the process of demarcating the land in 104 villages from where the corridor will be passing. Of which 61 villages demarcation has been completed. Once the remaining villages demarcation is conducted, land acquisition process will begin."
About Rs 15,617 crore has been earmarked for land acquisition, which was approved in the November 21, 2018, meeting by the state led by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The project will be executed in four phases and World Bank will be partially funding the project cost. Moreover, the bank had asked the MMRDA to break the project work into four phases with costs not exceeding more than Rs 500 million dollars for each phase; the same was approved in June 2018 meeting.
The proposed 128-km-long road from Navghar in Vasai to Chirner in Alibaug will have a metro corridor in the middle, 13 interchanges, 48 underpasses, and 41 bridges.
