Metro delays: Exchequer drained of Rs 27,500 cr

If the city’s Metro systems had been built within their scheduled time, the state exchequer would have saved Rs 27,500 crore.

If the city’s Metro systems had been built within their scheduled time, the state exchequer would have saved Rs 27,500 crore.

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The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is overseeing construction of the Metro, had first estimated the 146-km Metro to cost Rs 19,525 crore.

That estimate was made in January 2004, with the MMRDA planning to start work by December 2005. Three of its planned nine lines were to be completed by 2011, but a string of delays have now sent the project cost spiralling out to Rs 47,092 crore.

The Rs 47,092 crore figure was part of a recent presentation made by MMRDA to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

Most of the work on the project is on a Public Private Partnership, but the increased cost means the government will have to invest more than it would have, had its construction followed schedule.

The cost of the Metro’s first line, running between Versova, Andheri and Ghatkopar, was expected to be Rs 970 crore —the estimate was made presuming that work would start by December 2005. It eventually began only in February 2008, by which time the cost had risen to Rs 2,356 crore.

“The rise in cost is basically due to unavoidable delays that affected the project. Economic conditions have changed and this has led to the higher cost,” MMRDA Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said.