MMRDA Mulls Alternative Route for Metro 9 Extension

Will help save over ₹500 crore towards land acquisition, rehabilitation and construction costs

- Ateeq Shaikh

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is considering an alternative route for the Metro 9 corridor between Bhayandar and Uttan that will help save ₹500 crore.

The existing plan envisages the metro line passing through three villages in the 5.5-km stretch while the alternative route will bypass the villages and help the planning authority save on construction, land acquisition and rehabilitation costs, said MMRDA sources.

As per initial plans, Metro 9 was to commence in Dahisar and terminate at the Subhash Chandra ground in Bhayandar, with the car depot being located near the villages of Rai, Murdha and Morva.

About 1.5 years ago, the line was extended by 5.5 km till Uttan as the villagers did not want to part with their farmland for the car depot and the government identified another plot measuring 59.65 hectares on a hillock in Uttan for the same.