MMRDA wants to take over Mumbai Metro Line-1

Mumbai, India (Urban Transport News): The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) wants to take over operations of Mumbai Metro Line-1 (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor) from Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL). MMRDA said that it will facilitate better coordination with the coming Metro lines in the near future. MMRDA is in the process of appointing a consultant for conducting a feasibility study in this regard.

Mumbai Metro Line-1 is currently being operated by MMOPL, Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd. It is an SPV in which 69% of the stake is owned by the ADAG group ( Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group), 26% by MMRDA, and 5% by French Company, Veolia Transport. “At the end of the year, we hope to make two more lines of Mumbai Metro operational which are Line 7 between Dahisar (East) to Andheri (E) and Line 2 (A) between Dahisar West and D N Nagar and both these lines intersect with line 1, so to facilitate seamless transfer of passengers between all three lines and have a common fare structure it is imperative to have one authority which operates all three lines”, said an MMRDA official.

Furthermore, he added, MMRDA wants to appoint a consultant in order to bring constancy. And for that MMRDA issued an advertisement which unfortunately got no response but a new advertisement will be out soon. In 2006, the foundation stone of the project was laid by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In 2008, groundwork began and in 2012, MMOPL got the right of way to start construction of a stretch of entire 11.2 km. MMRDA and MMOPL are always in competition with each other especially over the cost of the line and fare structure of Mumbai Metro.

MMOPL mostly claims on problems such as land acquisition, environment clearance, obtaining the right of way, and shifting of utility lines lead to time delays and cost escalation. Mumbai Metro line-1 which facilitated around 5 lakh commuters on weekdays, is presently shut down due to COVID-19 lockdown. It has crossed around 60 crore ridership mark in October 2019 since it began its operation.