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MMRDA panel push for Metro Bhavan in Aarey
The MMRDA gave its approval to appoint project management consultant Epicons Consultant Pvt Ltd for Metro Bhavan, which will help track the 13 Metro corridors planned for the city.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has taken a step towards constructing Metro Bhavan, a control room for its Metro corridors, at Aarey Milk Colony, even though citizens have been opposing the state’s decision to use the land for projects.
The executive committee of the MMRDA, on Tuesday, gave its approval to appoint project management consultant Epicons Consultant Pvt Ltd for Metro Bhavan, at a cost of ₹12.51 crore. The control room, which is expected to be built at a cost of ₹914 crore, will help track the 13 Metro corridors planned for the city. According to MMRDA’s proposal, a copy of which is available with HT, a training academy will also be built at the control room, which will come up on an area of 1.14 lakh square metre.
According to MMRDA, the consultant will be responsible for proof-checking, construction supervision, quality assurance, audit and control of the Metro Bhavan, the operational control room and the training academy. A senior MMRDA official said the tender was evaluated by a committee, which found the offer “reasonable and competitive”.
Apart from the Metro Bhavan, there are also plans to build a station for the underground Metro-3 line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) and a car shed at Aarey Colony, the city’s last remaining green space.
Activists have been opposing the construction of the shed and the civic body’s tree authority recently received 82,000 objections against cutting trees for the same. The civic body is also planning to build a 190-acre zoo in Aarey Colony.
Zoru Bhatena, an environmental activist, said, “It is the Maharashtra government’s stated objective to develop Aarey into the new Bandra Kurla Complex. This will destroy Aarey.”
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