By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent www.gulfnews.com
Mumbai: Despite missing five deadlines for the completion of the city’s first metro project, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor is yet to be completed with the latest deadlibe being scheduled for May 2013.
Following a Right to Information query filed by activist Anil Galgali to Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), a government body, it is now known that only 76.66 per cent of work in the construction of 12 stations on the 11.4km line on a elevated viaduct and 92 per cent of structural work has been completed. “They have now extended the new deadline to May this year when only a part of the services will be started from Versova to Airport station,” says Galgali.
Reliance Infrastructure has undertaken this mammoth project over some of the most congested suburbs of the city. Once in operation, a 60- to 80-minute journey from Versova to Ghatkopar would be reduced to 20 minutes and take passengers in airconditioned coaches from the western to eastern suburbs crossing the railway line at Andheri and swing across the Western Express Highway over an existing flyover to the international airport and other stations like Chakala, Saki Naka and Asalpha.
The MMRDA, after obtaining information from Reliance’s Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, stated that the various deadlines missed for the completion of the project were July 2010, September 2010, July 2011, March 2012 and November 2012. More info
