(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The 11.
the city’s long-awaited metro rail service was inaugurated by maharashtra chief minister prithviraj chavan at versova a north-western mumbai suburb on sunday morning. technical glitches however marred the inaugural day’s run.
thousands of commuters thronged the dozen elevated metro stations through the day hoping to catch the inaugural day’s service. the 11.4-km-long versova-andheri-ghatkopar line has been developed on a public-private partnership model by mumbai metro one pvt ltd (mmopl) a consortium comprising anil ambani’s reliance infrastructure us-french transport major veolia and mumbai metropolitan region development authority a state government agency.
the project which was launched in 2006 has run into several controversies cost escalation and missed deadlines. when construction work began in 2008 it was estimated to cost about rs23.5 billion but the final cost added up to rs43 billion.
the sharp increase in costs has led to a dispute over fares between the maharashtra government and reliance infrastructure. last september the government agreed to increase the fares to rs9 (up to 3km) rs11 (three to eight km) and rs13 (over eight km) but reliance has been seeking rates of rs22 rs28 and rs33 respectively.
on the eve of the inauguration reliance infrastructure said the tickets would be priced between rs10 and rs40 for the 11.4-km route. with state assembly elections due to be held in october a worried chavan protested even threatening to boycott the inauguration. chavan told the media on sunday that fares cannot be hiked arbitrarily and due process must be followed. reliance then came out with a face-saver offering a promotional fare of rs10 for the first 30 days for a single trip. anil ambani the chairman of reliance infrastructure was also present at the inauguration and travelled to ghatkopar along with the chief minister.
the first line of mumbai metro promises to provide relief to hundreds of thousands of commuters travelling between the western and eastern suburbs. at present commuters have to take long detours by train or spend 90 minutes to two hours to cover the 12-km-long journey. the metro takes just 20 minutes to cover the distance.
commuters will also be able to travel in air-conditioned comfort. an auto-rickshaw or taxi ride from versova to ghatkopar costs between rs150 and rs300 whereas the metro ride costs just a fraction. the services will start at 5.30am and continue till midnight with a frequency of one train every four minutes during the peak hours.
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