100 days of MVA: Uddhav Thackeray government’s infrastructure priorities still unclear

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, a three-party coalition of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, has announced it will review

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, a three-party coalition of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, has announced it will review all ongoing infrastructure projects, work on which started during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led dispensation in the past five years. The government has said the review will help them “priorities” these projects.

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The BJP government under Devendra Fadnavis had come to power in 2014 on a ‘development agenda’ and had kick-started several projects – Mumbai Metro, Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), Coastal Road, Nagpur Metro, and Pune Metro, among others.

While the MVA government hasn’t announced any new project since taking charge in November last year, one of the first decisions it took was to stay work on the car depot for Mumbai Metro-3 (33.5-km underground line between Colaba-Bandra-Seepz).

The Shiv Sena had opposed cutting of trees at Aarey Milk Colony to build the Metro car depot, with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son, environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, publicly backing environmentalists even before coming to power.

Thackeray ordered a stay on the work at Aarey after he took over and set up a committee to look for an alternate site for the car depot. While the committee suggested that moving the depot would lead to cost escalation for the Rs32,000-crore Metro-3 project, the government has not taken any decision on the recommendation. The indecision is expected to delay the project and lead to the cost increasing.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), which is building the project, had plans to operationalise the underground line by June 2021, but it is now expected to miss the deadline as the car depot work is stalled. A depot is essential to Metro operations as it’s where the locomotive will be repaired, maintained, washed and parked.

Urban development department minister Eknath Shinde, however, said no project, including the Metro-3, has been stalled or put on the backburner.

“The state government has not stayed any infrastructure project. In fact, we are expediting important projects such as Metro lines, MTHL, Coastal Road, etc. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed MMRCL to speed up the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro work. The notion of this government being ‘sthagiti sarkar’ is absolutely wrong and is only a part of Oppositions’ false propaganda,” Shinde said.

Currently, in Mumbai, construction work on four Metro corridors is at an advanced stage, while preliminary work has started for another three lines. Senior government officials, who did not wish to be named, said the funding of these Metro lines is also being questioned by the government.

“The civil construction of Metro lines is funded by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), but the rolling stock, electrical works, etc. are through funding. The state government is currently backing these loans, which add to its burden. But what will happen to funding for the subsequent lines?” said a senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity, adding that it doesn’t mean the government will stop work on other Metro lines.

The construction of the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, too, has commenced from Nagpur, but the main challenge the government faces is raising funds for the Rs55,335-crore project. The previous government had approved a Rs4,000-crore loan for the project, while Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is raising a loan of Rs25,000 crore, and is in process of getting additional Rs9,000 crore from multilateral financial agencies.

Senior MMRDA officials, who did not wish to be named, said construction of MTHL between Sewri and Nhava, however, is progressing as per schedule.

Transport expert Ashok Datar said the government hasn’t spoken much on infrastructure. “They don’t seem to be talking about infrastructure. They have got one thing right and that is to review all the ongoing projects. They should evaluate projects; some of which are not required. There was criticism for Nagpur Metro and Pune Metro. If mega-projects are pushed without analysis there could be heavy losses to the state government – first in funding and later when there are no returns,” Datar said.

Transport expert AV Shenoy said the government has neither announced new project nor any policy decision; and they haven’t stopped any projects too.

“There has been no commitment on completion of the existing projects such as Metros if they will keep their deadlines. The [construction] pace that was seen during the earlier government, is not seen now.”