The daily commuters of Mumbai, who are eagerly waiting for the Mumbai Metro to begin, have to wait for bit longer time. The project has been delayed by eight months and is now expected to be operational by the month of March 2013.
Prithviraj Chauhan, the chief minister of Maharashtra said, “Owing to certain impediments, the project has suffered delays and we hope to make it operational by March next year”. As per the current plan, the first phase of the project that provides a 12 km east west Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, was supposed to become functional by August this year.
The construction for the project began in the year 2007. The much awaited project of the Mumbai Metro Railway is currently estimated to cost Rs. 2,356 crore and is being constructed by a consortium led by Reliance Infrastructure, with a capacity of around 6,000 commuters per day at affordable rates.
With the beginning of the new phase, the travel time on the sector would be reduced from 90 minutes to around 20 minutes. This will also lead to savings in time and fuel and will also help in the reduction of the congestion on the road. Chavan announced about the delay after a meeting of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, of which he is the head.
