Shortlisted agencies scouting for hovercraft; water taxi operations within 6 months
The much-awaited water taxis to ferry passengers from the domestic cruise terminal at Princess Dock to Navi Mumbai will be operational within six months, with interested agencies currently scouting for hovercraft to ensure the travel time is feasible, Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) Chairman Sanjay Bhatia said on Wednesday.
Discussing the MbPT’s ambitious plans to develop the eastern waterfront during an interaction with reporters at the Free Press Journal’s office, Bhatia said, “Water taxis will work only if they are faster than Uber or other cab services. Otherwise, who will go to the jetty, get on to a vessel, get off and go somewhere else? We had been advertising, asking people to operate water taxis. No one was coming forward earlier, as it was not feasible to run a water taxi service with normal boats. It would have been fine for purposes of tourism.”
“Now we have been able to zero in on hovercraft which move very fast, at 60 mph. All other boats move at 10 or 15 mph. If you want to take your car, ROPAX (rollon/roll-off passenger vessel) will take you 45 minutes to go from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai. A hovercraft will take you there in 15 to 20 minutes. An agency is currently in Russia trying to buy hovercraft,” Bhatia added. Asked when the services would be up and running, the MbPT chairman said, “It should happen within a time-frame of six months.”
MbPT had last year shortlisted six agencies for water-taxi operations from the domestic cruise terminal to Kanohiji Angre Island, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Navi Mumbai Airport, Belapur, Nerul, Vashi and Thane.
After it had released a draft master plan in December 2018 for development of Mumbai’s eastern waterfront, MbPT had received around 950 objections that the plan dealt more with commercial development than freeing up open spaces for public amenities. Commenting on the issue, Bhatia said, “I feel there was some miscommunication, which is why we were receiving objections. Of around 500 ha, 253 ha will be redeveloped. Of these 253 ha, as much as 193 ha will be for gardens, open
spaces, roads and recreational areas, and on the balance 60 ha, the plan is to develop a Hi-Tech City. The Floor Space Index of the entire 500 ha will be utilised on these 60 ha. There will be public parking provisions for 10,410 cars and a street grid network will cover 35% of the land, which is much larger than you will find in other areas.” Elaborating on how the plan for the hi-tech city is modelled on Manhattan, Bhatia said, “It’s going to be a high-rise, close-knit, hitech city that’s going to have a potential of generating employment for 3.4 lakh people. We are carrying out an experiment with urban form here, and that can be a model for the rest of the country. We are adopting a Ballard Estate model, in which there won’t be a front margin or a back margin of the block. Margins are available to the public. Buildings will be on the street, and roads are widened. This is similar to what you can see in Manhattan.”
He added, “There will be an arcade along the lines of Connaught Place in Delhi through which one can walk, where up to four floors will be for commercial purposes. Above that, it will be 50 per cent for residential and 50 per cent for commercial use. Every plot is defined by us in terms of what can be developed on the plot, and there will be absolutely no discretion. There will still be architectural freedom though.”