Eye on the BMC election, Ajith Pawar government give major preference to Mumbai

In the run-up to the 2022 municipal elections, the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Vikas Agadi (MVA) government has given a boost to transport and infrastructure in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Mumbai has been mentioned at least 20 times in Finance Minister Ajit Power's 82 - minute budget speech.  Pawar has announced a passenger waterway connecting Vasai, Thane and Kalyan along with the cycle tracks on Mumbai's East and West Express Highways.

 

Political analysts and observers said the spending was unlikely and that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had announced plans for the city that Mumbai would not receive new projects or allocations.  Various state agencies also provide funding for infrastructure projects in Mumbai

 

In addition to BMC, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The water transport project between Vasai and Kalyan will have four jetties.  The Maharashtra government has decided to use the waterways in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai for water transport.  Kalyan water transport service from Vasai will be available in the first phase.  For this, jetties will be constructed at four places, namely, Coleshet, Kalher, Dombivli and Meera-Bhayander, ”Pawar said.

 

As part of its mission to provide "world-class" transportation facilities, the Worli-Service Connector (flyover), Mumbai Coastal Road, Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, Mumbai Trans-Harbor Link and two metro corridors will be ready by 2021.  In addition to the projects in the city of Mumbai, the state also mentioned major projects linking MMR and extending the Bandra-Versova sea link to the Virar and Virar-Alibag multimodal corridor.

 

“We are planning to complete the Sivri-Nava project by September 2022.  A four-lane flyover is under construction to connect the Bandra-Worli sea link to the Sivri-Nava trans-harbor link, which is expected to be completed within three years, ”the finance minister said in his speech.

He said the coastal road project implemented by BMC would be completed by 2024.  He said another BMC project, the Goregaon-Mulund link road, was in the process of being tendered.

 

Pawar also said that an expansion plan of Rs 42,000 crore was being prepared for the Bandra-Versova-Virar Sea Link project.  Along with the grand project of converting seawater into drinking water for Mumbai, BMC's 500-19,500 crore wastewater treatment project was also mentioned. The construction of 14 metro lines with a length of 337 km is estimated at Rs 120,815 crore.  Pawar said work on Metro 2A and 7 would be completed by 2021.

 

The state has announced the construction of dedicated cycle tracks on two major highways in Mumbai to promote healthy and eco-friendly transportation.  Battery-powered bicycles on cycle tracks received a good response in the Bandra-Kurla complex.  MMRDA plans to build special cycle tracks on Mumbai's Eastern and Western Express Highways.

 

 

Opposition leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has criticized the budget.  Fadnavis said, “Is this the budget of Maharashtra or the budget of BMC?  In his speech, he mentioned several BMC projects where the state did not pay a single penny.  Many projects like MTHL, Bandra-Versova Sea Link and Xavier Nava were started during the tenure of our government.  The MVA government has not taken up any new projects.

 

Hemant Desai, a political analyst, said the tradition of resuming the projects of civic bodies or the Center in the state budget was not new.  The BJP has previously listed central projects.  They repeated the Metro project exactly as they did.  In addition, MVA is no longer financially and strategically likely to offer or announce anything new to Mumbai.  BMC takes care of most city projects, ”Desai said.