Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Mukesh Ambani looks to board Metro Rail



The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group has formally submitted its bid for the Rs 6,192-crore Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd phase of the Mumbai Metro project.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), the nodal agency for the Metro project, on Monday opened seven technical bids it has received for the longest corridor of the project.

The second corridor is the longest route in the project. The government, at a later stage, plans to extend this 32-km stretch by another 32 km joining Mankhurd to the proposed Panvel Airport, and Bandra to Sahar international airport. The bidding for the extended portion will be done separately. This may take the total cost of the phase to over Rs 12,000 crore.

The non-compete agreement signed by the Ambani brothers is silent on railway projects and as such both can compete with each other. The Rs 19,525-crore metro project will be implemented in three phases over 15 years.

The second phase will connect Mahim and Mankhurd (12.8 km), Charkop-Dahisar (7.5 km) and Ghatkopar-Mulund (12.4 km) and will be completed by 2016. The grand metro plan envisages a 146.5-km-long rail network, of which about 32.5 km will be underground and 114 km will be elevated.

Phase one will connect Colaba (Backbay), Mahim and Charkop (36 km), and Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar (15 km). The first phase of the project, spanning three corridors, is targeted to be completed by 2011.

In the third phase, the Metro line will connect Bandra-Kurla complex to Kanjur Marg via the airport (19.5 km), Andheri (East)-Dahisar (East) (18 km), Hutatma Chowk to Ghatkopar ( 21.8 km) and Sewri-Prabhadevi (3.5 km). The third phase would be fully functional by 2021.

The project was flagged-off by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in June last year.

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