Wadala-Thane Metro project report to be ready this month.

Fast-tracking the pace of implementing the Metro corridors in the city, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority plans to take up the proposed Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali Metro corridor next. The detailed project report (DPR) of the Metro-4 corridor, which is approximately 30 km, will be ready by this month-end.

Apart from that, two other corridors — Bandra-Mankhurd stretch that is part of Metro-II corridor and Jogeshwari-Kanjurmarg Metro corridor — are going to be taken up as priority corridors.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is preparing the DPRs for the city’s Metros. “We are expecting the DPRs to be submitted by November 30, and by next month-end two more line’s DPRs will be ready to be submitted to the authority for approval. Wadala-Thane corridor is immediate in the pipeline,” said UPS Madan, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

The major discussion for the planners is whether to have an elevated or an underground corridor. The DPR will also suggest whether the alignment of Metro-4 would be on the LBS Marg or on the Eastern Express Highway. Experts believe that an elevated corridor LBS Marg is not possible as it has pipelines in the middle of the road just like Peddar Road.

Moreover, the LBS road was located in close proximity to the Central Railway and the ridership of the two routes would overlap, experts added. State’s think-tank, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit, has suggested that the corridor be constructed via the Eastern Express Highway. Madan said: “The DPRs will suggest which option is the most feasible from the financial and technical point of view.”

MMRDA, the nodal agency for the projects, is in talks with various multilateral finance agencies to fund the Metro corridors, including Japan International Cooperation Agency, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. “Many global financial agencies are ready to fund the Metro projects, so funds are not an issue. We want to fast-track the projects. By early next year we want to start work on these corridors,” said a senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity.

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