The maharashtra government is preparing to start water metro service in Mumbai. State Fisheries and Port Development minister Nitesh Rane said on saturday (April 26) that kochi Water Metro of kerala has been requested to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for this project. He said that the DPR is expected to be ready by the end of this month.
Rane told news agency PTI that a special body would be formed to implement this project under 50-50 percent participation between the central government and the state government. He said that mumbai is made up of seven islands, but the waterways here have never been fully utilized. Now the water metro service will not only reduce the congestion on the roads and suburban rail network, but will also bring major improvement in the urban transport system.
Tourism will also get a new dimension - Nitesh Rane
The minister said, "The water metro project will also give a new dimension to tourism in the country's financial capital. kochi Water Metro is providing technical assistance. Under this project, battery-operated boats will connect various parts of the mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)."
The project will be implemented in two phases - Nitesh Rane
Rane informed that 21 potential locations have been identified for water metro stations in Vaitarna River, Vasai, Thane, Manori, Panvel and mumbai Port Trust area. The project will be implemented in 2 phases - water metro service will start in the first phase and Ro-Ro (roll on-roll off) ferry service will also be started in the second phase.
Apart from this, the minister informed that chief minister devendra fadnavis had recently announced that Navi mumbai airport would be the first airport in the country from where water taxi service would also start. He said, "There is a plan to build a water metro terminal near the airport. In this regard, a meeting will be held soon between CIDCO, maharashtra Sagar Mandal (MMB) and the State Ports Ministry and a detailed project report will be prepared.
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