Delayed Metro line 3 in Mumbai expected to complete by 2024

Mumbai's first underground Metro line 3 Colaba-SEEPZ-Bandra corridor witnesses delay in the civil and electric work, no sign of commencement of trial, and no land for a metro car shed. The project is expected to complete by 2024.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) said it aims to complete Phase-I of the metro corridor by January 2024, and it will take six more months to start Phase-1, only if the Metro car shed land issue is resolved within three months.

Initially, the deadline for the project was 2021.

The government has decided to spend over Rs 2,000 crore to extend Metro 3 to Navy Nagar and appoint a consultant for preparing the feasibility report.

MMRCL started the work on the 33 km long underground Colaba-Seepz Metro line 3 in 2016, with 26 underground stations on the entire stretch. However, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar announced extending the Metro line by 2.5 km to Navy Nagar from Cuffe Parade during the recent Budget.

With this extension plan, the first station will be Navy Nagar with 27 stations with an estimated additional cost of Rs 2,031 crore.

According to the initial plan, Phase-I between Bandra-Seepz was to be completed by December 2021 and Phase-II from Bandra-Kurla Complex to Colaba by June 2022.

After the metro car shed issue is resolved, the Phase-II project from Colaba-BKC is expected to be completed by mid-2025.

Metro 3 car shed proposed at Aarey Colony was opposed by the environmentalists. After the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in November 2019, the plan for a car shed at Aarey Colony was scrapped by CM Uddhav Thackeray and announced to shift Kanjurmarg.

The Kanjurmarg plot got stuck under several litigations and lawsuits, with the central government claiming its stake in the land.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is now looking for different options for car sheds and has also inspected a land at Kanjurmarg, owned by a private party.

Due to the absence of the car shed, CM announced that a trial run of the Metro 3 would be conducted on the Marol-Maroshi stretch.

MMRCL said a temporary facility is being built to accommodate the prototype train and its testing at Sariput Nagar.

The work was expected to complete by March 2022, and the trial was supposed to start after getting the first eight-car train.

However, the two trains are ready at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh for the past year but unable to bring them to the city due to the non-availability of parking spaces.

The project cost has also increased by Rs 10,000 crore because of the delays. Initially, the project cost was Rs 23,000 crore, which increased to Rs 33,406 crore, excluding the additional cost of the Navy Nagar extension.

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