After Multiple Delays, Mumbai to Get its First Underground Metro by 2024

The first phase of the Bandra-SEEPZ (Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone) metro corridor is likely to be completed only after 2024. The initial deadline for the Phase -1 Metro line 3 work was December 2021. The work was delayed multiple times due to the issue of Metro car shed land acquisition and other factors. The completion of the project will give Mumbai its first underground metro.

According to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), Mumbaikars will have to wait longer to use the Bandra-SEEPZ Metro corridor. MMRC shared that the first phase of the corridor will be completed by January 2024, reported The Indian Express.

It was also learned that the work on Phase-1 will take another six months to start that too if the Metro car shed land issue gets resolved within three months. The extension in the deadline of the project is attributed not just to the car shed issue but other factors like delay in the civil and electric work and a deferred trial run.

The work on the 33-km long underground Colaba to SEEPZ Metro Line 3 which has a total of 26 underground stations, had begun in 2016. Later, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the Metro line would be extended by 2.5 km. The extension was made from Cuffe Parade to Navy Nagar. With this, now the Metro Line will have a total of 27 stations with the Navy Nagar being the first one. The cost of the addition of one more station is estimated to be Rs 2,031 crore.

The MMRC had initially set the deadline for the Phase-1 Bandra-SEEPZ in December 2021 while the Phase-2 from Bandra-Kurla Complex to Colaba was expected to be completed by June 2022. MMRC has now revised the deadlines after multiple delays affected the timeline of the project. The first phase is likely to get completed by January 2024 while work on the second phase will be finished after one-and-a-half years.

The Metro 3 car shed was proposed to be built at the Aarey Colony of Mumbai. But, the decision taken during the BJP-Shiv Sena government came under opposition from environmentalists. The decision was later scrapped after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came into power.

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