R-Infra consortium, state to ink Metro pact

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will sign a concession agreement with a Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium for the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd corridor of the Mumbai Metro project on Thursday raising hopes that the ambitious attempt to upgrade the city’s infrastructure by building a second rail network will proceed faster.

This will be the second segment of the multi-stage Mumbai Metro project. The concession agreement will be signed for a period of 35 years and spell out various terms, rules, and regulations under which the project will have to be completed by the consortium.

At 32-km, the Rs 8,250 crore Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd would be the longest corridor in the nine-corridor Mumbai Metro project. The first corridor — the 11 km long Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar line, is being executed by Mumbai Metro One, an SPV between Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Reliance Infrastructure, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company. The first corridor is likely to cost Rs 2,356 crore and is likely to be completed by early 2011.

An MMRDA official said the second corridor has to be built by 2016. For the second corridor, the financial commitment on the part of the Reliance Infrastructure led consortium is Rs 5,952 crore. The project also expects a viability gap funding of Rs 1,532 crore from the union government. MMRDA will contribute the balance Rs 766 crore.

The Mumbai Metro is essentially a second railway network connecting various parts of the city and will operate alongside to the city’s famous local trains. The initial phases of the metro are intended to connect the city’s eastern and western suburbs, something which is not provided by the current network, which was built early in the last century.

The various metro projects are being built through the public-private partnership (PPP) route where a private company teams up with a government agency to build road a factory or an airport. PPP projects have become popular in the infrastructure sector. Mumbai’s current train services are entirely in the private sector and are operated by the Indian railways.

The 32 km second phase will have 27 stations, all elevated beginning from Charkop, near the western suburb of Kandivli and passing through Oshiwara, Juhu, Vile Parle, Nanavati Hospital, Khar and Bandra and ending at Mankhurd which is in the city’s eastern parts.