Land acquisition hurdles plague Monorail phase II Even as MMRDA is planning to complete the second phase of monorail by mid-2014, it is struggling to acquire land along the narrow corridor for constructing station landings comprising elevators, escalators and staircases. MMRDA is yet to acquire land at several places near proposed monorail stations on Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail corridor, such as Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Nagar, Dadar and Naigaon. “We are in various stages of negotiations. We are expediting land acquisition issues,” said SVR Srinivas, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA. MMRDA has to clear five structures, all encroachments, near the proposed monorail station at GTB. It plans to give the occupants transit accommodation elsewhere. MMRDA is also awaiting the transfer of land from BMC for Dadar TT monorail station near Vitthal Mandir. “The civic body is waiting for a developer executing a slum rehabilitation scheme to hand over the land for road widening. SRA has given its ‘no objection,’ but the developer is yet to comply,” said MMRDA transport division chief P R K Murthy. The authority needs to acquire land near Haffkine Institute in Parel and Spring Mills chawls. Srinivas said while land transfer at Haffkine was not likely to be an issue, MMRDA was awaiting the textile department’s nod for the latter portion. A project engineer said land at Naigaon police ground was yet to be formally handed over to MMRDA though the state police has agreed in-principle to transfer it. MMRDA is expecting to commission the corridor a year after the monorail’s first phase from Chembur to Wadala is operational, which is likely to be in September. It had earlier expected to commission the Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail by May 2011. In the first phase, MMRDA is yet to get a small plot in Chembur to accommodate the monorail escalator there. “Some project-affected people need to be shifted to make way for an escalator, but it will not affect the commissioning of the corridor. The escalator can be added later,” Srinivas said. For the second phase, MMRDA is also yet to receive approvals from CR to take the monorail over the tracks at Wadala and Currey Road.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 13:10:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015