Once the inland passenger water transport project is complete,hovercraft and catamarans will carry commuters from North Mumbai to Nariman Point in 45 minutes,but it will come up at a price,a one-way ticket ranging between Rs 300 to Rs 350. The Rs 1,200-crore project that has been on the drawing boards since 2002 envisages linking the western waterfront from Nariman Point to Borivali with PWT terminals at Bandra,Juhu,Versova and Marve. "Working out the fares is in the scope of work of the concessionaire (the Pratibha Industries Ltd-led consortium) though they will have to get approval from us," said an official with nodal agency Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. "We are currently awaiting clearance from the cabinet sub committee on the project before issuing the letter of acceptance. But the fares would be less than the taxi fare per kilometre." A representative of the consortium said the fare works out to Rs 12 per kilometre "as of today". "For endpoint-to-endpoint travel it should cost around Rs 300 to Rs 350. The rates are still not finalised,this is a preliminary estimate. Once the LoA is issued we will present it to MSRDC and discuss it," said Raju Bansode of Pratibha Industries,who is in charge of the project. Bansode acknowledged that the higher the fares,the lower the likely ridership. "The fare may be reduced for a longer trip. We are making a lot of investment on the infrastructure of terminals,vessels etc,so low ridership will not be in the larger interest of the project." The most used mode of transport on the same route,suburban trains,is saturated. Buses,taxis and even private vehicles have to struggle through the traffic and take around two-and-a-half hours for the journey. The objective of the project,when floated,was to complement the suburban rail network. For the same distance,a second-class monthly season ticket costs Rs 140,but it comes with a jampacked one-hour ride. "The catamarans and hovercraft will be airconditioned as will the terminals at various locations as per the conditions of the government. It would be a world-class travel experience," Bansode said.
