mumbai

Updated: May 28, 2019 08:08 IST

With an eye on Assembly elections, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday chaired a review meeting of all mega infrastructure projects in the state and said Metro-2A and Metro-7 lines will be operational by early 2020.

Metro-2A, from Dahisar to DN Nagar Metro, and Metro-7, from Dahisar East to Andheri East, are expected to cater to around 16 lakh passengers daily. The state had been planning to complete the Metro-2A and Metro-7 corridors before going to the Assembly polls by October 2019. However, owing to delay in procuring rakes, the deadline has been pushed.

“The two Metros, totally 35.1km in length, will be operational by early 2020. The total progress on Metro-2A and Metro-7 is 65% and 68% respectively,” said a senior official from the chief minister’s office (CMO).

At the CMO war room, Fadnavis reviewed the overall progress of Metro works in Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune; the Navi Mumbai Airport; the irrigation projects; sea link project; the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL); and railway projects in the state.

The Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in September-October this year. After coming to power on the development plank, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government has focused on developing mass transport facilities in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. The CM also directed officials to complete construction of the additional six Metro lines in Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) by 2022. “By 2022, we plan to have a Metro network of 119km by completion of Metro lines DN Nagar-Mankhurd (Metro-2B), Colaba-Bandra-Seepz (Metro -3), Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali (Metro-4), Wadala-GPO (Metro-4B), Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan (Metro-6) and Lokhandwala-Vikhroli (Metro-5),” the official said, adding that by 2022, work on 169km of additional Metro lines across the state will start. Officials said the work on MTHL will be completed by 2022-end.

The CM also took stock of the key irrigation projects in Vidarbha like the Gosikhurd National Irrigation Project, which the government has been pushing for. With a potential to cater to 2.51 lakh hectares annually, the project is being undertaken for Bhandara, Chandrapur and Nagpur regions. Vidarbha officials told the CM that the project, being undertaken at a cost of ₹19,000 crore, will be completed by 2020-end. “When the Fadnavis government took over, irrigation capacity of project was just 30,000ha; it is now 1.80 lakh ha. Financial misappropriation case in the project caused delays,” said an official from the water resources department. Bembla and Lower Wardha irrigation projects were also discussed in the meeting.