Similar to the Ring Road in New Delhi, Maharashtra Government should develop a Ring Metro in Mumbai, which will connect all the metro lines in the region. The Centre is ready to provide all the necessary help for such a venture, said Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiha Naidu on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the third phase of the Mumbai metro project. The 32.5-km underground line will connect Colaba in South Mumbai with Andheri in Western suburbs.
The line will cost about ₹23,136 crore and will be completed by 2021. It would be the first metro line in the city, which will be underground and have 26 stations.
Naidu said that the new metro line will completely change the picture of South Mumbai. The line would be built in partnership with Maharashtra Government, Centre and the Japanese Government.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra PrithviRaj Chavan said that since the line would be underground it would be more expensive but easier to build, as no permanent structures such as buildings need to be shifted on the ground.
There were some protests against the State government however, from some concerned citizens at the ground breaking site. Vinit Goenka, a member of the protest group, said that the implementation of the first phase of project has been very slow. In the last seven years, only 11 km of track line has been laid. The estimated cost in 2007 was ₹20,000 crore but today it has ballooned to ₹60,000 crore, “Who is going to pay for such exorbitant projects?” he asked.
The complete Mumbai Metro master plan created by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority in 2004 and revised in 2012, talks about 160 km of metro line in the Mumbai region. However, till date the projects have remained on paper and citizens spend on an average 3-5 hours commuting within the city.