While there are 19 stations on the Osaka Mono Rail corridor, the Mumbai Mono Rail corridor will boast of 18 stations.

India’s first Mono Rail, once commissioned, is set to earn yet another moniker. The 19.54 km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle Mono Rail corridor will be World’s second longest Mono Rail corridor – the longest being Japan’s Osaka Mono Rail corridor which is 23.8 km. While there are 19 stations on the Osaka Mono Rail corridor, the Mumbai Mono Rail corridor will boast of 18 stations.

The Mono Rail World Map, as of today, marks Osaka Mono Rail corridor (23.8. km) as the longest in world, followed by Tokyo Mono Rail (16.9 km), Tama Mono Rail (16 km) and Star LRT in Kuala Lumpur (8.6 km). However, once the 19.54 km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle Mono Rail corridor is commissioned, it will be positioned as the World’s second longest Mono Rail corridor.

The Osaka Mono Rail is the world’s largest operational monorail line. It opened in 1990 as a 6.6 km track between Osaka Itami Airport and Senri and has now been extended to Kadoma for a total of 23.8 km of track, including a 2.6 km spur between the Expo Commemoration Park and Osaka University Hospital.

While certainly impressive, the infrastructure and operating costs of Osaka Mono Rail system runs approximately into a whopping US$ 120 million (Rupees 540 crores approximately) per kilometer to construct. Further, in order to partially cover costs, the system has to charge fares of between US$ 2 and US$ 4.50 (Rupees 90 to 200 approximately).

This number game turns interesting and significant too, when one considers that Osaka Mono Rail was constructed and put into to operations after an expenditure of Rupees 12,690 crores. The Mumbai Mono Rail will be constructed and put into operations at a cost of approximately Rupees 3,000 crores.

Also, it is pertinent to note that the fare structure for the Mumbai Mono Rail is much reasonable as compared to that of Osaka Mono Rail. The Mumbai Mono Rail fare ranges between Rupees 8 and 20 only.

As far as the ridership of Mono Rails world over is concerned, the Mumbai Mono Rail is expected to score over many ridership results. The longest Osaka Mono Rail corridor ridership is clocked at just over one lakh daily boarding and the Mumbai Mono Rail is expected to carry, at least, a dozen thousand boarding more than one lakh daily.

The 18 stations on the Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle Mono Rail corridor –

Jacob Circle, Chinchapokali, Curry Road, Mint Vasahat, Ambedkar Nagar, Naigaon, Dadar-E, Wadala Bridge, Acharya Atre Nagar, Antop Hill, Guru Teg Bahaddur Nagar, Wadala Depot, Bhakti Park, Mysore Vasahat, Bharat Petroleum, Fertilizer Vasahat, V.N.Purav Marg and R.C.Marg junction, Chembur Railway station.

As reported by Express news service on  Mon Sep 06 2010

In June this year, the World Bank extended the deadline for the much-delayed Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) to December 2011.

Planned in 1997 and work finally started in 2003, the project aims to connect the eastern and western suburbs with an elevated road with a promise that the distance from Chembur to Santacruz can one day be covered in just 15-20 minutes. However, a 4-km stretch of the six-lane elevated road, from Kurla near the CST bridge to the Amar Mahal junction in Chembur, is running behind its original schedule by nearly five years. With four extensions, the SCLR is also a key reason for the long delays in completing the Mumbai Urban Transport Project.

The relocation of around 3,500 structures (both commercial and residential) and eight religious structures was the main reason for the delay. “The land acquisition is almost complete with the tenants of the buildings at Netaji Nagar finally agreeing to vacate the plot. A small patch has to to be acquired near the Amar Mahal junction, which houses a mosque,” said an MMRDA official.

As reported in Express News Service on 17th Oct 2009

In a significant push to the heavily delayed Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) construction, tenants have agreed to vacate the New Tilak Nagar housing societies in Chembur, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) agreeing to resettle them within 24 months.

MMRDA officials said the consent came after residents of the 13 MHADA buildings went to the Bombay High Court seeking approval for resettlement in new buildings to be built by MMRDA before the tenants vacating the premises. “They had fears about the time it would take for the resettlement, that it would go beyond 24 months. But approvals for layouts for the new buildings will be obtained from MHADA and the BMC in due course,” said P H Warwadekar, MMRDA Planner.

The tenants will have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and vacate the premises within 15 days. “The tenants will have to leave within 15 days of signing, failing which MMRDA can take forcible possession and demolish the buildings,” Warwadekar said. So far 96 tenants have signed the MoU; 164 remain.

The buildings are in the carriageway of the proposed SCLR. According to Warwadekar, demolition can start by mid-November.

Till the new buildings are ready, the MMRDA will provide the tenants an allowance as rent for their alternative accommodation. If it crosses the 24-month deadline, the MMRDA will raise the allowance by 10 per cent. Under the current plan, tenants in the middle-income group will be given Rs 14,000 a month and those in the lower-income group Rs 11,000 a month.

As reported in Hindustan Times on 17th Oct 2009

It looks like the six-lane, elevated 3.5 km Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) will finally be completed next year.

All 260 tenants of the 13 Mhada buildings in Tilak Nagar, that obstructed the road alignment, have finally agreed to vacate the premises and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) promised to build new homes for them in two years.

“With this move, we hope to complete the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road by next year,” said Additional Metropolitan Commissioner SVR Srinivas.

When the 13 buildings are razed and the World Bank-funded Rs 110 crore two-deck bridge gets ready, you will be able to zip between Santacruz and Chembur in 17 minutes. It takes two hours now.

Under construction for over five years, the SCLR that was to have been ready by 2005, will now open only next year.

The work was delayed on the issue of rehabilitating the residents of the 13 Mhada buildings. Of the 260 tenants, only 100 had agreed to vacate the premises, and the rest, who demanded more time, approached the Bombay High Court.

The high court directed MMRDA and the tenants to sign a memorandum of understanding that the residents would vacate the buildings and the MMRDA will fund the construction of new buildings at Navin Nagar in Chembur and hand over the plots to the residents in two years.

As reported in TOI by Chittaranjan Tembhekar, on 17 October 2009

The bottlenecks on the roads leading to the city’s crowded suburban stations will not disappear soon. Reason? The World Bank (WB) has finally dumped the Rs 220-crore Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) that would have widened the station roads and removed encroachments (by resettling hawkers and slums) from its project and funding list.

According to sources, the WB had asked the BMC to complete all formalities regarding planning and appointment of implementing agency by August 2008. “Fed up over no response and inordinate delay from BMC, the WB decided not to fund the project and deleted it from its MUTP programme,” admitted senior officials in the BMC and MMRDA.

However, senior BMC officials insisted that the corporation would implement SATIS on its own. “The WB can advise us, but cannot

force us to implement SATIS or any other scheme under their projects,” said a senior BMC official. Experts are, however, sceptical about the civic claims, given that political interference and red-tape invariably delay its projects.

The SATIS was formulated as a part of WB-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) in 2002 and involved road development, widening and encroachment removal in and around Dadar, Andheri, Ghatkopar, Chembur, Malad, Borivli and Kurla stations in the first phase.

Incidentally, the MMRDA is implementing the skywalk part of SATIS. The other parts of the project were handed over to the BMC for implementation over 30 months ago.

The project involved resettling and rehabilitation of hawkers and slumdwellers around railway stations, widening of the roads leading to the stations, thereby improving the dispersal system at stations. Interestingly, the Thane municipal corporation recently developed Thane railway station under its SATIS programme, the only successful programme in Mumbai region till today.

As reported in Business Standard by  PB Jayakumar on  September 27, 2009

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), which owns close to 800 acres in the Sion-Chembur region in the heart of Mumbai, is planning to re-develop its residential areas with high-rise towers to unlock the value of its real estate assets.

The public sector fertilizer major, whose residential colonies occupy about 300 acres, has appointed a consultant to design a blue-print to re-develop a part of the area with two-three residential towers.

“RCF will shift employees currently residing at the RCF colony to these towers and will offer the rest of the apartments to other public sector companies such as Indian Oil or Bharat Petroleum,” RCF Chairman and Managing Director US Jha told Business Standard.

He pointed out that most of the buildings in RCF’s housing colonies were old and in a bad condition.

“Restoration of these buildings will cost close to Rs 300 crore. We are planning to optimise the value of this land by building towers for our own use and for the use of other public sector undertakings,” Jha said. He further noted that a part of the proposed high-rise buildings could also be used to house IT firms and even be converted into an IT park.

The consultant will provide the blue-print soon. RCF is planning to approach the government for various clearances and funds to go ahead with the project. Jha said RCF had so far not considered the participation of private sector real estate developers in the project.

“We will not sell or rent our premises for real estate or related commercial ventures. We will invite bids after the clearances. They (the companies) can help us construct the towers,” he said.

It may be noted that RCF’s land in Mumbai has been a prime target for real estate players for many years. In the last few years, there have been several media reports that RCF may sell a part of its real estate assets as a part of the government plan for divestment of loss-making public sector units.

According to sources, RCF’s plants are spread across about 400 acres and its residential colonies cover about 300 acres. More than 100-150 acres could be utilised for various commercial development purposes, including captive expansion, RCF cannot utilise the property for non-related businesses as per the land acquisition norms laid down at the time of the commissioning of RCF, the sources added. As reported earlier, RCF is also working on a project to unlock the value of its real estate assets by venturing into related chemical businesses by setting up a chemical park and a chemical commodity exchange in its premises. The company also had close to 700 acres at its Taal facility, sources said.

RCF had also formed a joint venture with Rapid Building Systems of Australia for setting up a Rapidwall manufacturing facility at its Trombay unit at a cost of Rs 75 crore.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Divya Fernandez on 15th Aug 2009: Read Full Article

A Milan-based cartoonist wanted to set her cartoons free from books; she got the opportunity to do it through a development project in Mumbai.

“I had the idea of embroidering my cartoons on cloth several years ago as I was interested in the interconnection between art and handicrafts. Today I could realise the idea thanks to a development project in Baiganwadi, a Mumbai slum area,” says Pat Carra, a well known artist from Milan, who has been creating strips about women and other society-related issues for more than 20 years.

Snow White: Tell the handsome prince that before he wakes me up, he should make the 7 beds, iron the 7 sheets and wash the 14 socks (translation of Pat Carra’s cartoon)	Punto-a-Capo group in Milan: (L-R) Patrizia Costa, Maria Collini, Michela Solari, Pat Carra, Maura Carra and Piera Bosotti

Carra’s cartoons are translated into Spanish, Greek and French. Now these cartoons are being embroidered on bags made in small workshops or women’s homes in the slums of Baiganwadi by women belonging to the Lok Seva Sangam (LSS), but their destination, as their inspiration, is Milan.

LSS is working with the women of Baiganwadi in a community development project funded by Fair Med, a Swiss funding agency. The project works towards improving education, sanitation and health in the slum.

Says Ethel D’souza, who manages the activities of LSS, “We were looking for income-generation options to get the women out of rag picking. Then Patricia Costa, an Italian who was helping us remembered her friend Pat Carra’s cartoons.” After discussion with Carra, they decided to put together Carra’s artistic and intellectual work with the technical and practical work of other women, sewers and embroiderers.

“I named the project Punto a Capo: full stop and new paragraph. In Italian it is a play on words between writing and sewing (full stop = stitch),’ says Carra. She goes on to add, “When I create my cartoons on paper I am concise and brief, both in the drawing and in the text. The embroidery takes a different direction, almost opposite. It is necessary to add materials, threads and fabrics, that is to say, touch and volume. It is now a shared art form. Each bag is a unique piece.”

As reported in TOI on 2 Jul 2009, by Sukhada Tatke

The crucial proposal to partially close the Deonar dumping ground, which was rejected by the civic standing committee last month, may not be shelved after all. The same standing committee members that had rejected the proposal, gave the thumbs up on Wednesday to the new landfill site to be created at Kanjurmarg, exactly along the same lines as the Deonar dump.

“According to the original Kanjurmarg plan, we were supposed to process only 1,000 metric tonnes of garbage of the 4,000 metric tonnes that we get. The remaining was to be sent to the bio-reactor landfill. Six years later, the compost was to be sold and the non-degradable material was to be taken care of by the company,” said additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev.

“Corporators are demanding that the entire 4,000 metric tonnes be processed together right from the start, instead of being sent to the landfill. We will get the consent from the company which will carry out the project,” he added.

Officials are now hopeful that the clearance of the Kanjurmarg proposal will pave the way for the closure of the ground in Deonar. “I have asked the standing committee to reopen the proposal as it is very important to the city,” said BJP corporator Ashish Shelar who was absent on the day the committee asked the administration to take back the Deonar proposal.

Last month, the standing committee had deferred the project detailing the partial closure of the Deonar dump, and converting the remaining land into a sanitary landfill site. The standing committee had demanded fresh tenders on the grounds that the existing format, which involves payment of an annual tipping fee of Rs 44 crore for disposing of and processing 2,000 metric tonnes of garbage every day, was not sustainable.

However, the same standing committee members, in a surprising U-turn, directed the civic administration on Wednesday to make just a few changes to the Kanjurmarg dumping ground proposal. They said they would clear it on June 6 after the changes were incorporated.

As reported in Express News Service on Jun 19, 2009

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has urged Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to include the introduction of 12-car rakes on the harbour line in the phase II of Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) in the railway budget.
In a letter, Chavan said, “The addition of this work in the already sanctioned MUTP Phase II may be announced in the forthcoming railway budget. The state government would provide the necessary assistance required from it and local agencies.”

The project is likely to cost Rs 800 crore, which includes increasing the length of platforms, working on the signalling system and buying of new rakes. Train services to Vashi were started in May 1992 after the Mankhurd-Vashi bridge was completed. Though the population of Navi Mumbai has grown manifold, 12-car rakes have not been introduced on the harbour line route owing to various limitations of the Railway.

Cities like Navi Mumbai and Panvel are fast growing areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). “The harbour line serves the fast growing area of Navi Mumbai and there is already too much crowding on this route, especially during peak hours. It is therefore necessary that the infrastructure on the harbour line is also modified to enable provision of suburban trains with 12-car formation,” the letter said.

The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) had conducted a feasibility study for the project, which is in the favour of introducing 12-car services on the harbour line.

As reported in TOI on 1 Jun 2009, by Swati Deshpande.

It may be the most modern public transport system for Mumbai’s manic traffic, but is relying on an archaic law meant for horse-drawn trams.

Trams are history in the city and few would remember the horse-drawn or electric trams that criss-crossed the city, say, in 1909. But the law enacted in 1886 to `facilitate construction and regulation of tramways’ still exists. Over a hundred years later, as Mumbai prepares for a much-needed state-of-the-art elevated Metro rail, it is this very statute that the government is falling back on for implementation of the project.

“How can the Metro rail, which is on an elevation of 30-40 feet, be compared to trams?” asked Juhu residents, who questioned the notices issued to them by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on the basis of the Tramways Act for the Metro rail between Charkop, Bandra and Mankhurd.

Authorities, however, said they have done their “homework and taken legal opinion to qualify that the Metro rail project could come under the Tramway definition. A new proposed law for the construction and maintenance of the mass-rapid-transport-system (MRTS) is in its draft stage.

“A Metro rail that is 40 feet above ground level is not covered or contemplated under the Tramways Act. Thus the Act has no application to the proposed elevated Metro rail project,” said some Juhu residents in their objections and suggestions to the land acquisition notices.

Advocate Mukesh Vashi, lawyer for the Juhu residents who had even gone to court to ensure that they were heard by the authorities, said several technicalities have not been followed under the Tramways Act like the mandatory requirement of the government expressing its “satisfaction about the project to the public”.

The government’s notice on the website in November 2008 is vague to say the least, the residents said.

The Act provides that the government appoint a promoter to construct tramways and designating MMRDA as a the Project Implementation Authority is not contemplated under the Act, said a letter written by JVPD scheme residents Mahesh Kothari and Alka Pandey to the principle secretary, urban development.

The residents also say that the process has lacked transparency so far and hearing the objections and suggestions was reduced to a “farce” as technical bids for tenders were already invited in 2007.

Besides, there is no provision under the town planning scheme to construct a Metro line on an existing road, the residents said.

Aftab Siddiqui of the Linking Road Citizens Forum, which had met G R Madan, director MRTS, to make a presentation said the latter had assured that a width of 28 metre was enough for the rail route and buildings would not be affected.

Reliance Energy, a power distribution arm of Reliance Infrastructure, joined hands with the World Bank to develop the world class power infrastructure in the unorganized developments in its licensed distribution area in the suburban Mumbai.

As a part of this joint initiative, the company would undertake its first project in the unorganized developments of Shivajinagar area of Govandi in Eastern Mumbai suburb.

The World Bank as an administrator to the scheme christened as Global Partnership on Output – Based Aid (GPOBA), has entrusted Reliance Energy, being a licensed power distributor in the area, to execute the project in Shivajinagar, Govandi.

As a part of execution of the programme, the company will start developing power distribution infrastructure in a planned and systematic ways. This would include several initiatives like laying down new distribution network; installing electricity meters to ensure authorized and metered power supply, etc. The work is expected to start after the monsoon.

The Company, though getting aid from the World Bank under the programme, would be substantially investing in creating the world class infrastructure for the project. The initiative, when completed, is expected to be beneficial to around 26000 households in the concerned areas.

As reported in Economic Times on 21st may 2009