MMRDA should concentrate on regional, transport infra: Asthana

MMRDA, the infrastructure development agency for Mumbai, should concentrate only on regional and transport infrastructure, its outgoing chief Rahul Asthana said here today.
Asthana, a 1978 batch IAS officer, is retiring tomorrow.
"In my opinion, the MMRDA should concentrate on regional and transport infrastructure and not look at any other infrastructure development," Asthana said, talking to reporters here.
MMRDA will be spending Rs 1,542 crore on projects in the city alone while Rs 1,922 crore will be spent on-going projects in the Mumbai metropolitan region, he said.
Asthana also suggested that the government should adopt Singapore transportation model to overcome the traffic snarls.

When asked about the confusion over construction of underground metro rail corridor instead of an elevated one between Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd, he said, "Personally, I think Metro-2 should be underground. I also feel Metro-2 should be extended up to Dahisar. We have also identified land for a car depot at Dahisar."

On his expectations from the Union Budget, Asthana said, "It would be prudent to make financing of projects a little bit easier to help securing easy loans and attaining financial closures."
He also said that MMRDA-proposed development charges for property around infra projects will be another source of revenue. "MMRDA is sitting over a pretty large land bank, and levy of taxes after a decade or two would be necessary. We have also suggested development charges," he said.

Asthana has been appointed as Member of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) and is expected to take charge as its new Chairman from April.