MMRDA to start building Metro Bhawan in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony by December

The 7,500-sq metres plot for Bhawan is not part of the buffer zone or green zone and it is close to the Western Express Highway.

Even as environmentalists and citizen groups are protesting the construction of a Metro car depot at Aarey Milk Colony, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is likely to start building the Metro headquarters in the city’s green lung by December.

The MMRDA, which is the nodal agency of Metro projects in the city, wrote to the state government in February, seeking land in Aarey Colony to house a labour camp, casting yard and a Metro Bhawan — a centralised operation and control centre (OCC). They will collectively eat up 20,387 sq meters or 5.03 acre of the area. “The Dairy Development Board has formally allotted the land to us. We are working with a consultant to finalise the plan and design of the Bhawan. The two Dahisar-Andheri Metro lines will be ready in by the end of 2019 and we would need a headquarters by then,” said a senior official. The official added that a centralised centre was required to operate the 200-km Metro network being built by the MMRDA.

The 7,500-sq metres plot for Bhawan is not part of the buffer zone or green zone and it is close to the Western Express Highway, said an another official. Another 4,887-sq meter plot in Aarey has been reserved to set up a remote receiving station.

“Once the final design is ready, we will float tenders. This would be a master OCC for all Metro lines in the city, excluding Metro One. We expect that work will start by December this year,” said Pravin Darade, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA. Activists have opposed the government’s decision to use Aarey land, which is the city’s last remaining green cover. A 25-hectare plot has been carved out of Aarey Colony for the construction of a car depot for the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro 3 corridor.