Rs 6,653 cr approved for MMRDA budget

A Rs 6,653-crore budget for the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for 2009-10 was approved at a meeting here today.

The budget provides for Rs 600 crore to skywalk projects, Rs 830 crore for Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project, Rs 500 crore for Metro and Rs 500 crore for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), an official release said.

The general body meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and attended by mayors and municipal commissioners.

The general body also approved MMRDA’s ambitious plan to construct two 100-storeyed towers at Wadala, to be modelled on World Trade Center, on the Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) basis at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore. The twin towers will come up on 600,000 sq metres.

After its attempt to construct the 22-km MTHL connecting Sewari and Nava-Sheva across the creek on BOT model failed, the state government decided to build the project on its own. It was also decided that MMRDA will finance it even as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) constructs the sea link.

A provision of Rs 1,130 crore was made for the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP), aimed at upgrading the city’s road transport system and infrastructure, Rs 500 crore for metro railway project and Rs 729 crore for MUTP, which is designed to upgrade the capacity of the suburban railway transport.