Six years after it was proposed, the ambitious 126-km Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor may remain on paper for at least a year, as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has fa
Six years after it was proposed, the ambitious 126-km Virar-Alibaug multi-modal corridor may remain on paper for at least a year, as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has failed to allocate any funds for the construction of the project in its financial budget for the financial year 2016-17 tabled on Monday.
MMRDA had proposed the multi-modal corridor in 2010, and it has never taken off due to various obstacles in getting clearances from the union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) and the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday approved the financial budget of MMRDA for the year of 2016-17. The budget, pegged at Rs 6,647.67
crore, had focused on major infrastructure projects in the city compared to the MMRDA’s previous budget, which was Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) centric and a resolution was also formed in the context in its authority meeting in 2008.
In the budget Rs 1,000 crore was allocated for the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) and an equal amount for the Colaba-Seepz-Bandra 33.5-km Metro-3 underground corridor. The budget also allocated '500 crore to the Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro-2A and Andheri East- Dahisar East Metro-7 corridor.
“The project has been stuck due to failure in land acquisition, as the alignment of the project runs through mangrove cover and forest area. It needs clearance from various state and Central statutory authorities and the same will take some time,” a senior MMRDA official said, requesting anonymity.
“We have carried review meetings for land acquisition and are thinking about the model that should be used for acquiring land for the project affected people (PAP),” he added. The MMRDA is undecided whether to acquire land by Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) or by implementing the Land Acquisition Act.
“The procedure regarding the clearances will take at least a year and it made no sense to reserve funds by allotting money for the project,” the MMRDA official added.
The project will need Rs 12,975 crore for construction, according to current calculations and it will be constructed in two phases of which the first will be from Virar to Chirner and the second will be from Chirner to Alibaug.
