MMRDA revives metro corridor construction plan on MTHL

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) revives their previous plan to set up a Metro line to connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai through the Mumbai Trans Harbor Link (MTHL) which is under construction. The 22 km long MTHL will link Sewri with Nhava Sheva, it is expected to be completed by 2023 and around 50% of the work is completed.The MMRDA has appointed a consultant to examine if the sea bridge is capable of taking the load of a Metro corridor. This report will be ready in April 2022. In 2010, MMRDA prepared a detailed project report (DPR) via Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited (RITES) named Mumbai Trans Harbor Metro Rail Link, which is a 49 km corridor from Prabhadevi to Dushmi (20 km away from Chirle), and where the MTHL ends in the district of Raigad. The aim of constructing an MTHL metro was to encourage mass transport while meeting future travel demands and facilitate MTHL traffic decongestion. But later since the project was going to be constructed under public private partnership (PPP) model, the firms were not interested to have a Metro corridor on it, stating that it will be financially non-viable because the citizens would prefer Metro over the toll payment to use the road bridge. After receiving no response in 2015, the MMRDA took the decision to construct the project via self-financing through a loan approval from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Image Source Also read: MMRDA to link Mumbai Monorail corridor to Colaba-Seepz Metro-3 line