By IANS,
Mumbai : The newly-appointed chief of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) Monday said his priority would be the completion of pending projects at the earliest.
“The focus and the priority is to complete projects as early as possible. We have a few big-ticket projects such as metro rail corridors and will be looking for a way forward,” MMRDA Commissioner U.P.S. Madan told media persons here.
Madan said that he felt lucky to have taken charge as the metropolitan chief at a time when many important projects were nearing completion.
“Many projects such as the Eastern Freeway, Milan Road over-bridge (in Santacruz, northwest Mumbai), Sahar Elevated Road (near international airport), Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Corridor and Chembur-Wadala Mono Rail Corridor will be completed in the next about 10 months,” he said.
However, Madan said that the authority is perturbed by delays.
“There are various reasons for delay such as underground utilities, multi-level permissions, issues related to land acquisition etc. Please note we too are perturbed by the delays,” he said, when asked for reasons for delay in completion of these long-pending projects.
Asked about his views on a proposal to levy congestion tax to solve the traffic woes of the metropolis, Madan conceded that such a tax has been partly successful in solving traffic problems in a few countries.
“However, to tax motorists we need to introduce certain pre-requisites. More importantly, we still require a thorough study of various issues related to taxing people for congestion,” he said.
Madan’s predecessor Rahul Asthana had last week admitted that road traffic in the city had reached saturation point.
Asthana had suggested a restriction on the movement of cars during rush hours by levying a congestion charge.
He also suggested that vehicle buyers should be charged a separate fee for registration, depending on the capacity of the engine, which would dissuade people from having more vehicles.