Monorail unused land to house a commercial hub

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to develop the Mumbai Monorail Wadala car shed land for commercial use.

A senior MMRDA officer, on condition of confidentiality, revealed that the depot land would be developed on the lines of the BandraKurla Complex (BKC).

"Consultant Price Waterhouse Cooper has been roped in to prepare a complete design model. Once the design is finalised, tenders will be floated. Wadala Monorail depot has five to seven acres of unused land, lying vacant," added the official.

Another official said this proposed move of the authorities was a revenue-generating measure. "Since Mumbai Monorail is facing a financial crisis, MMRDA is focussing on its key resources to generate revenue. The authorities can rent the commercially developed part of the depot to the interested investor and earn money," said the official.

At present, the car shed is a workshop, where checks are conducted to resolve technical issues of the monorail rakes.

India’s first monorail line, 8.9km long, between Wadala and Chembur (Phase I), began in February 2014. The ambitious project of MMRDA was built at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore and it was expected to carry at least 1.5 lakh commuters a day. But there are not many takers for the monorail and its average daily ridership continues to remain at 19,000 in three years of operation.

The service runs up losses of nearly Rs 3 lakh a day, a response to a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed.