Fast boat from Gorai to Gateway on the horizon
State asks MSRDC to submit report on water transport service in two months
Taking a fast boat to Nariman Point may soon become a reality. The state government has ordered the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to submit a report in two months on starting water transport services from Borivli to the Gateway of India, stopping at Marve, Versova, Juhu and Bandra on the way.
The report will also look at water transport along the eastern seaboard, with a ferry service from the Gateway of India or Ferry Wharf to Alibaug, Mandva, Uran and Nerul.
The meeting on water transport was chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and attended by, among others, industry minister Narayan Rane, minister of state for public works and ports Ranjit Kamble, flag-officer-commanding (Gujarat and Maharashtra areas) Rear Admiral Bimal Kumar Verma, and the heads of the MSRDC and the City and Industrial Development Corporation.
The government had in the past suggested a feasible water transport service to ease the burden on the railway lines and the roads. It is determined to take the plan to its rightful end this time.
The MSRDC had received environmental clearance for a private firm for such a service along the western coast, but the project could not take off due to issues over the shareholding pattern in the firm. The MSRDC cancelled the licence three years ago.
As per the new plan, the state will build infrastructure such as the jetty and boarding terminals with docking berths at different points on the coast. The ferry services will be taken care of by private operators.
Incidentally, in the mid-1990s, a hovercraft service was started between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, but it did not last long. Few middle-class people could afford the expensive tickets on a regular basis.
Water transport as a means of ferrying tens of thousands of commuters daily was first mooted decades ago and feasibility studies were carried out in 1982. Plans for the same were floated repeatedly over the years thereafter.
The only possible glitch in the plan: the city's monsoon. Ferry services peter out during this period. But, experts pointed out that the ferry services in Hong Kong are not interrupted even during raging monsoons there.
State asks MSRDC to submit report on water transport service in two months
Taking a fast boat to Nariman Point may soon become a reality. The state government has ordered the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to submit a report in two months on starting water transport services from Borivli to the Gateway of India, stopping at Marve, Versova, Juhu and Bandra on the way.
The report will also look at water transport along the eastern seaboard, with a ferry service from the Gateway of India or Ferry Wharf to Alibaug, Mandva, Uran and Nerul.
The meeting on water transport was chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and attended by, among others, industry minister Narayan Rane, minister of state for public works and ports Ranjit Kamble, flag-officer-commanding (Gujarat and Maharashtra areas) Rear Admiral Bimal Kumar Verma, and the heads of the MSRDC and the City and Industrial Development Corporation.
The government had in the past suggested a feasible water transport service to ease the burden on the railway lines and the roads. It is determined to take the plan to its rightful end this time.
The MSRDC had received environmental clearance for a private firm for such a service along the western coast, but the project could not take off due to issues over the shareholding pattern in the firm. The MSRDC cancelled the licence three years ago.
As per the new plan, the state will build infrastructure such as the jetty and boarding terminals with docking berths at different points on the coast. The ferry services will be taken care of by private operators.
Incidentally, in the mid-1990s, a hovercraft service was started between Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, but it did not last long. Few middle-class people could afford the expensive tickets on a regular basis.
Water transport as a means of ferrying tens of thousands of commuters daily was first mooted decades ago and feasibility studies were carried out in 1982. Plans for the same were floated repeatedly over the years thereafter.
The only possible glitch in the plan: the city's monsoon. Ferry services peter out during this period. But, experts pointed out that the ferry services in Hong Kong are not interrupted even during raging monsoons there.
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