PM kicks off Rs 33,000 crore metro, low-cost housing projects

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid foundation stones for two metro lines and affordable housing projects entailing an investment of over Rs 33,000 crore in the megapolis. At an event held here months ahead of the crucial general elections in 2019, Modi kickstarted work on the ambitious Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan (Metro 5) and the Dahisar-Mira Bhayander (Metro 9) in this Mumbai suburb, which will see investments of over Rs 15,000 crore. He also launched the Navi Mumbai town planning authority Cidco's (City & Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) mass-housing scheme worth Rs 18,000 crore, which offers around 89,771 affordable units under the Pradhan MantriAwasYojana. Accompanied by state chief minister DevendraFadnavis and Union urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Modi laid the foundation stones for the these three projects. The Rs 8,416-crore, 24.9-km-long Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan metro corridor (Metro-5) is expected to carry around 2.29 lakh commuters daily by 2021, with the entire system designed for six-coach trains. The corridor will have 17 stations. The 10.3-km elevated Dahisar-Mira Bhayander corridor (Metro-9) comprising eight stations, is expected to be completed by 2022, and the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 6,607 crore. Both the projects are being executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). As per the proposal, Metro-9 will be integrated with Metro-7 (Dahisar to Andheri) and Metro-2A (Dahisar -DN Road) along with the proposed Rs 3,600-crore Gaimukh-ShivajiChowk (Mira Road or Metro-10). The tendering process to appoint general consultants and contractors for civil works for Metro 9 is in progress, and is expected to commence from next March.