Mumbai’s first Metro Rail project, which is being built between Versova, Andheri and Ghatkopar is likely to miss its sixth deadline.
The MMRDA had recently fixed a deadline of May 6 this year to open part of its services between Versova and the Airport station.
While the project is scheduled for completion in the next two months, only 76 per cent work on 12 stations and 92 per cent of the civil work has been completed so far. The information was revealed by S.R. Patil, chief engineer of Mumbai Metro-1, following an RTI query filed by activist Anil Galgali.
Work on the Metro Rail project — undertaken by the MMRDA in consultation with Mumbai Metro One Private limited (MMOPL) — began over five years ago on February 8, 2008. Since then, the project has missed five deadlines. The various deadlines that have been missed by the MMOPL, are as follows — July 1, 2010, September 2, 2010, July 3, 2011, March 5, 2012 and November 5, 2012.
The RTI reply further states that the MMRDA would not suffer any financial loss if the project deadline is missed, as any cost escalation in the project would be borne by the MMOPL
When contacted, the spokesperson of the MMOPL said, “We received a complete Right of Way for the project in February 2012. However, we still overcame various ground challenges to complete around 99 per cent of the civil structure work.” Another officer on condition of anonymity said that the project will be completed by August 2013.