Mumbai Metro 2 on fast track: 2 parts to be merged

The 40-km Metro 2 was divided into three parts – 18km Dahisar to DN Nagar, 10km Bandra to Mankhurd, and 12km DN Nagar to Bandra

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to speed up the Dahisar-Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd (DCBM) Metro 2 corridor by merging two of its parts – DN Nagar-Bandra and Bandra-Mankhurd — in order to ensure eastern and western parts of the city are well connected. The detailed project report of this 22-km line will be submitted by next month.

The 40-km Metro 2 was divided into three parts – 18km Dahisar to DN Nagar, 10km Bandra to Mankhurd, and 12km DN Nagar to Bandra. The third part Dahisar-DN Nagar is in the advanced stages as tenders for its civil works are set to be invited in a week’s time. It is being executed by the Delhi Metro rail Corporation (DMRC).

Earlier, MMRDA had put the DN Nagar-Bandra section on the backburner owing to difficulties in acquisition of the required land. Now, MMRDA has changed its alignment and merged it with the Bandra-Mankhurd part to make a new corridor – DN Nagar-Mankhurd. DMRC is assigned the job of preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for this new corridor.

MMRDA additional commissioner Sanjay Sethi said, “We have taken up this corridor on priority along with Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali corridor. We expect the DPR to be ready by January next year.”

In the past, the elevated Metro 2 failed to take off owing to stiff opposition from residents living along the proposed alignment, along with difficulties in getting green clearances. So, the authorities decided to build it underground. However, the government returned to its original plan to build it elevated owing to the huge cost involved in the underground corridor construction.

Moreover, MMRDA invited tenders for civil work of the Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro 7 line on Wednesday. Successful bidders will have to build an 18-km metro corridor and 16 stations within 30 months.