Future Of Transport Infrastructure In Mumbai

India, the seventh largest nation with over a billion people, has one of the largest transport sectors. However, not without its own set of challenges. Mumbai, the financial capital of the country has seen immense development in its transport infrastructure over the last decade, but the ever increasing population in the city is rendering the present day infrastructure facilities inadequate. However, the city is gearing up for a major infrastructure development informed Mr Radheshyam Mopalwar, MD, MSRDC, while speaking on “Future of Mumbai.’
Mr Mopalwar started his talk with a quote that emphasizes the importance of transport infrastructure for a common man. He said, “If a city wants to become prosperous, the city has to talk about the quality of life that it provides to the common man who walks. The city walks, it does not travel on wheels.” He further questioned, “Are we any way closer?”
Answering the question, he spoke about the transport infrastructure development projects executed by MSRDC over the last few years. He said, “Started in 1996 with a vision to create a dedicated organization in road infrastructure, MSRDC has completed some mega projects including the Mumbai-Pune Expressway as well as the network of 55 flyover bridges in Mumbai. Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL), a new iconic structure and Mumbai’s new land-mark has put MSRDC on the map of world transport infrastructure companies. “

He further went on to talk about the Mumbai Metro. “Till 2003, we didn’t even touch the concept of the Metro in Mumbai. It was only post the success of the Delhi Metro in 1998 and 2003 that we thought of having a Metro in Mumbai. Two sections of this metro are already in action, work has already started in the Colaba-Seepz and Dahisar-Andheri corridor and the remaining corridors are in an advanced stage of development. An additional line was introduced recently between Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan.

He further mentioned, “For a long time, we have been talking about Mumbai and North-South connectivity. his Metro network for the very first time also takes care of east-west connectivity, south-west to southeast, and from south-east. All corridors will be connected. It will also connect the Santacruz airport and the Chatrapati Shivaji International airport to the new Navi Mumbai Airport. Navi Mumbai has already taken up its first Metro segment for execution. This entire network covers more than 2,000 sq kms of area out of 4,400 kms of area. This I suppose is the biggest infrastructure project ever thought of. This got a boost in the last 2 years.”
Mr Mopalwar also informed, “The Government has already approved projects on the Metro at a cost of 89,000 crores. Now, a lot of you might ask from where the funds come from? As you are aware that by 1995, the first PPP (public-private partnerships) projects came in. In fact, all the 55 bridges that came in Mumbai were not made by the tax-payers money but they were constructed by the users money. Bhiwandi by-pass was the 1st user-free based infrastructure project, which came in 1991. And now the tax concessions will come in 2017-2018. Talking about PPP, the bankers just don’t want to look at you because they have thousands of crores stuck in various PPP projects. Despite the challenge of financing, the Govt. of India is aggressively, pursuing it in the last 2 years.”
Mr Moplawar added, “All over India, we have 97,000 kms. of national highways and the Govt. of India has proposed another 95,000 kms. of national highways in a very short span of 3-5 years. In Maharashtra, we have 7,400 kms of National Highways. We are adding another 13,000 kms of national highways, out of which 4,000 kms has already been executed by MSRDCs .”

He further said, “People never believed that we will be able to do that type of work. However, we have achieved it. As an organization, we have done projects only on user-fee basis whether they are 55 bridges or the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The biggest initiative was the Bandra- Worli sealink. “
Talking about the tolls and associated challenges, Mr Mopalwar said, “A lot of investment goes into developing infrastructure. Once the project is complete people feel happy, as it makes their life convenient. However, within few years they start asking when are you going to stop taking tolls? Now, the first term of ease of doing business in the international market and in the national market is the sanctity of contract. You have a contract with the BOT operator or the private investors. But, if he is not very confident that he is likely to collect the toll for the next 20 yrs or 25 yrs for whatever amount he has already invested, that becomes a very scary scenario. Despite these challenges, in Mumbai, we are taking on other projects. We really hope to change the way Mumbai commutes in the next few years and provide some relief to the people of this city.”