Taking a dig at the previous Congress-NCP government's poor track record in projects execution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said in the past four years of the BJP rule, Maharashtra has been focusing on speeding up and scaling up infrastructure projects.
Speaking at an event here where he laid the foundation stones for two ambitious metro projects and also a Rs 18,000-crore affordable housing scheme, Modi said his government iscreating ideal societies through various housing schemes.
"Mumbai is already the financial capital of the country and we are taking initiatives to enhance it further. When we came to power in Maharashtra, we decided to give priority to infrastructure development," he said.
Modi said though the first metro (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar) was conceptualised during the Congress regime ittook eight long years for them to commission it.
"The first metro in Mumbai was conceptualised in 2006.But for eight years the project was delayed and we have don'thave any idea at what level it was stuck. In 2014, when wecame into power we decided to not just speed up the processbut also to scale up the metro network. And now we haveproposed a 275-km-long metro network by 2024," Modi said,adding this will not only improve connectivity but also reducethe problem of traffic congestion in the megapolis.
Taking potshots at the previous Democratic Frontgovernment which got embroiled in the Adarsh Housing Societyscam, Modi said his government is working towards creating abroader 'adarsh' (ideal) society.
"...this is not the Adarsh Society which was the topicof discussion under the old government. We are creating thereal adarsh society where poor families' aspirations aregetting realised," he said.
Modi further said since coming to power, hisgovernment has built 1.25 crore homes for the poor andmarginalised, as against 25.5 lakh under the UPA regime from2010 to 2014.
"If we compare the pace of work we have undertaken, itwould take two generations of the previous government tocreate this scale of housing infra," Modi said.
He also launched the Navi Mumbai town planningauthority Cidco's (City & Industrial Development Corporation(Cidco) mass-housing scheme worth Rs 18,000 crore, offeringaround 89,771 affordable units under the PM's awas yojana.
Taking credit for introducing the Rera Act, Modi saidsince its rollout, the pace of home-buying has gone up.
"Earlier home-buyers were duped by builders as thereused to be a huge difference in what was promised and what wasdelivered. But with the introduction of Rera we've managed tocontrol this," he said.
Modi said such situations would have not arisen hadthe Congress-led government taken measures and formulatedstringent laws.
He further said 21 Rera tribunals are operational nowand Maharashtra was the first state to implement Rera.
"Of the 35,000 real estate projects registered so far,the maximum are in Maharashtra. Nearly 27,000 agents have alsobeen registered," he said.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was present,said apart from the proposed 275 km metro routes, hisgovernment is also planning to take the metro network fromDombivli to Taloja and from Mira-Bhayander to Vasai-Virar.
"We don't stop at bhoomi pujans but we ensure weexecute the projects. Two years ago, the projects for whichfoundation stone was laid by Modi, we have been able tocomplete nearly 60 percent of work," he claimed.
Fadnavis further said the Mumbai metropolitan regionis the largest urban agglomeration in the country today and soexpanding mobility is very crucial for the further growth ofthe megapolis.
"During the past 70 years what (Congress-ledgovernments) has achieved on the suburban railway network thatcarries 70 lakh passengers daily, our government is creating ametro network that will carry 100 lakh passengers daily oncompletion," he said, adding to strengthen the existingsuburban network, they are planning two elevated corridors.
The two metro projects which were launched include theambitious Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan (Metro-5), and the Dahisar-Mira Bhayander (Metro-9) in the suburbs, with an investment ofover Rs 15,000 crore.
The Rs 8,416-crore 24.9-km long Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyancorridor is expected to carry around 2.29 lakh commuters dailyin 2021. The corridor will have 17 stations and will deploysix-rakes trains.
The 10.3-km elevated Dahisar-Mira Bhayander corridor,comprising eight stations, is expected to be completed by 2022at an estimated at Rs 6,607 crore. Currently, the northwesternsuburbs of Mira-Bhayander are connected to Mumbai via thesuburban line.
Tendering for appointing general consultants and civilwork contractors for Metro 9 is in progress, and is expectedto commence next March. Both the projects are being executedby Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
At present, the authority is executing several metrocorridors across the megapolis, such as the Dahisar-DN Nagar(Metro-2A), DN Nagar-Mankhurd (Metro-2B), Andheri (East)-Dhisar (Metro-7), Colaba-Bandra-Seepz (Metro-3), the elevatedWadala-Kasarvadavali (Metro 4) and the SwamiSamarthnagar-Jogeshwari-Vikhroli (Metro-6).
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