Aashim Mongia, Director, M2M Ferries, World Medallist Yachtsman, On Roro’s Journey To Mumbai And The Future Of Water Transport In Our Coastal City
- Sailing is my first love; water has always inspired me to move forward.
- I joined the Navy in 1989 but I fell sick and had to resign. At that time, a friend suggested starting a marine business which I did. We are where we are, thanks to the goodwill.
- Mumbai’s coastline is used by the government for commercial use, defence, or fishing; there is never any use towards the recreational or transport side. Only recently has the government realised the potential.
- In 2014, when the government came up with a proposal of developing Mandwa Port, we decided to do it with public-private partnership.
- The story of Roro is a lot older; about 20 years ago, when I was trying to develop the business, Mr. Tata used to go to Alibaug every Sunday. Once, we had a conversation on Roro operating in Bombay. It didn’t work out back then, but the thought stayed.
- Why do we call Mandwa successful? There were ferries, the government came out with a tender of what we can do in Mandwa. They put in the hardware, we put in the software and we worked together. We went from an average footfall of 3000 to 40000 a day.
- That was through opening restaurants, our vision of what we can do on the waterfront. Amrish Arora from Flamboyante came on board and we built it upwards and onwards. We were sold out three months prior.
- All this development in Mandwa allowed us to grow the ecosystem.
- The idea was to have a space where people can come to as a tourist destination. Everyone coming to Bombay would want to come to Mandwa for a day, be it food, heritage walks, activities, etc. We just have to showcase it well. That is our goal for 5 years.
- Roro has had its own story. We arrived in Bombay in 2020 February, launched on March 15th, 2020, and March 17th, 2020, we were told to shut down.
- As luck would have it, after the cyclone in June, Alibaug was badly hit, we took the CM to Alibaug and the bureaucracy saw the significant potential of what we were saying.
- In August the government allowed us to open the ferry. It was all hands-on deck. And there is no looking back since.
- The project Tehri in Uttarakhand taught us that if we did it right, it will work. We studied the topography for 10 years. So, the learning has been immense, and we could use the learnings for the Mandwa project.
- The upcoming water taxi project is still in its nascent stage.
There is a huge demand for development of market space. Every route is designed to meet the requirements. We are working with the government to see how things can be improved. The CIDCO terminal is now ready, a ferry terminal, a JNPT terminal and Kashid terminal that will become the next Alibaug, so to say.
There is a lot to be done and achieved, the ferry is just one part of the service. There are people who have now settled on the other side. It has helped the fisher community to travel, work and go home the same day with the help of Roro.
Rotarians ask
At what stage is the Kashid terminal?
It’s being rebuilt and should be open by December next year.
Do you make money on the Roro business? Who are the investors? Is it possible to have a fixed timing of Roro? Are there political influences in the ferry business?
There is no mafia, it is a misconception. Bombay Ferry Association is of people. Ferry is owned by us and the partners. It is an internal investment as banks don’t consider ships as collateral. Unfortunately, there is a tide problem in Mandwa that is being rectified this year.