Hindustan Times 27.08.2010
East Coast water transport project back on MSRDC’s listIn a major flip-flop, the chief minister returned the East Coast project of the Passenger Water Transport System to the state road development body. “The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had already found a bidder for the West Coast project. So, it makes sense for it to
undertake the East Coast project as well,” Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told reporters after the 127th Authority Meet of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Chavan had asked MMRDA to start work on the Rs 400-crore East Coast project, which will connect south Mumbai (Jamshedji Bunder) to Nerul via catamarans and hovercrafts.
In 2008, the MSRDC had floated tenders for the project but did not get any response. So, the state government gave MMRDA an in-principal approval to start work on the East Coast project this year.
But by then the state road development corporation managed to get a bidder for the Rs 1,200 crore West Coast project, which will connect Nariman Point to Borivli. That’s why the state returned the East Coast project to the MSRDC.
During Thursday’s meeting, Chavan also gave the go-ahead for two projects — planting one crore trees in the MMR region and eight-line monorail, which will cost the state government more than Rs 20,000 crore.
The Passenger Water Transport Project
The state proposes to utilise Mumbai’s 34-km coastline to provide alternative mass transport systems on a sustainable basis at an affordable cost to passengers and relieve pressure on the overloaded commuting systems operating in the city.
