Mumbai : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for two Metro corridors during his visit to Mumbai on October 11. The state cabinet is slated to approve the detailed project reports (DPRs) of the two new Metro rail corridors which will connect Andheri and Dahisar on Tuesday paving way for the commencement of the project.
The function, according to officials of MMRDA, is likely to be held at Bandra-Kurla Complex where Prime Minister Modi will jointly announce the commencement of work on the two Metro lines.
The two corridors that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority at the behest of the state government is taking up are Dahisar-D.N. Nagar (18.6 km) and Dahisar East-Andheri East (16.5km). The new corridors are estimated to cost Rs 4,994 crore and Rs 4,737 crore respectively. They will connect the north-west suburbs of the city, and are part of the 118 km Metro rail network planned by the MMRDA.
Meanwhile, MMRDA is also deliberating on the funding pattern to adopt for the project. According to sources, MMRDA plans to fund the construction of viaduct portion while they would opt for loans from multilateral agencies for the rolling stocks and station infrastructure.
“After the cabinet clears the project tomorrow we will freeze on the funding. But we have had fruitful discussion with Asian Development Bank to partially fund the corridor. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and World Bank too are keen on funding. So we will decide on it,” said a senior official requesting anonymity.
Senior official of MMRDA added that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) can implement at least one of the corridors. Officials have had a meeting with DMRC in August end to finalise which corridor to take up for construction.
The line that would be taken up by DMRC will be in process faster as MMRDA won’t have to invest time in the bidding process, which takes a lot of time, officials added.
