(HOLD) Centre clears Mumbai Metro's 33.50 km underground Line-3

The central government has given the green signal for the Mumbai Metro Line-3 that will connect south Mumbai with the western suburbs up to SEEPZ in Andheri, an official announcement said here Friday.

The 33.50-km Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Line-3 is expected to be completed by March 2019.

It is expected to cost around Rs.23,136 crore and work will begin this year.

The union cabinet Thursday evening also approved the conversion of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation into a joint venture company between the central and state governments with 50:50 equity participation.

The new company would be on the patterns adopted for Delhi Metro, Bangalore Metro, Kochi Metro and Chennai Metro.

The new joint ownership company will retain the same name MMRC with five nominated directors of the centre and state under the ex-officio chairmanship of secretary, Ministry of Urban Development.

With Line-1 linking Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar on the verge of kicking off within three months, the implementation of Line-3 is expected to provide much-needed additional support to Mumbai's transport infrastructure, which is bursting at its seams.

The 12.08 km Mahim-Kurla-Mankhurd Line-2 was cleared six years ago and is now awaiting environmental approval as part of it will run under the Mahim creek.