Fwd: [MTF] Maharashtra government to scrap all future monorail projects - The Economic Times

[Sujit Patwardhan]

The state has now washed its hands of the project, and many of Maharashtra's top bureaucrats say that the Monorail system was not meant for Mumbai, and that it is not a mass public transport system at all

Another example of the ad hoc way our projects are conceived and approved. 

Knowledgeable people have been screaming that Monorail is not a Public Transport System but none of the decision makers seriously applied their minds to this fact. 

Now after spending cores from the public exchequer they are scrapping it. 

Is the PMC aware of this? I doubt it.

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Sujit

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/maharashtra-government-to-scrap-all-future-monorail-projects/articleshow/46939453.cms

Maharashtra government to scrap all future monorail projects

MUMBAI: A year after the much touted Mumbai Monorail was inaugurated in 2014 and Rs 1,208 crore was spent on the project, the state government has reached the brink, prompting it to call off any more Monorail projects in Maharashtra.

This is in sharp contrast to 2005 when it was first announced that there will be a Monorail system in Mumbai -- Chembur to Jacob Circle -- along with a Metro, which will change the way people travel in Maximum City. In short, they were believed to be game changers.

The government and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) even announced another project connecting Thane and Kalyan, and were thinking of many more such routes. A decade down the line though, the game has gone horribly wrong.

A top MMRDA official confirmed to ET that plans for future Monorails have been shelved. "There was a proposal for a Monorail from Thane to Kalyan and Bhiwandi, and also a line from Thane to Wadala. However, all those plans have been scrapped. There won't be any new Monorail projects," he admitted.

The stipulated date for Monorail's Phase I (between Wadala and Chembur) and II (between Wadala and Jacob Circle) completion was fixed at November 2010 and May 2011, respectively. While Phase I was completed after a delay of 38 months in December 2013, Phase II was extended to September 2015, a delay of 52 months.

The state has now washed its hands of the project, and many of Maharashtra's top bureaucrats say that the Monorail system was not meant for Mumbai, and that it is not a mass public transport system at all.

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Parisar

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Sujit Patwardhan
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