An overburdened transport system, choked roads, mushrooming slums, enroachments around the airport, lack of affordable housing, a declining economy — that’s Mumbai for you, as described by the Maharashtra government. But the Planning Commission willing, Mumbai might soon get a facelift.That the Planning Commission is still sitting on the revival package — dubbed ‘‘Vision Mumbai’’ — is due to the cost, pegged at not less than Rs 40,000 crore, to turn Mumbai into Shanghai, as promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Had the tsunami not devastated the eastern coast, the project would have got rolling by now. Now, the next meeting has been deferred till the tsunami crisis is over.The Maharashtra Government already has the blueprint ready — though the Planning Commission and the Urban Development Ministry, which will part-own the project from the Central end, are still trying to figure out from where to raise the funds.Shanghai, the Maharashtra Government’s new task force report points out, was once ‘‘dimly lit, unpainted and financial wreck in 1987, but today it is one of the fastest growing cities’’.The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has just submitted a Metro Master Plan for Greater Mumbai. The 146.5-km metro will connect Charkop to Colaba (via Bandra), Versova to Ghatkopar (via Andheri), and Bandra to Mankhurd (via Kurla), and will cost Rs 19,525 crore.Next in the pipeline, is a high-speed elevated roadway — 15-km corridor — connecting the densely-populated western and eastern suburbs to two important railway stations (Western and Central). The only hitch is that the project has a Rs 450-crore viability gap. However, the state government is making the land available to woo private players, plus 70 pc equity is up for grabs.Mumbai’s local train network — literally the city’s lifeline — will be revamped in two-phases. High-speed train and fast-tracks would cost no less than Rs 7,000 crore. Its urban infrastructure too would be overhauled: With high-capacity bus corridors, elevated roads, tunnel below Juhu airport, improved road network, flyovers and overbridges, the city is set to look smarter.And, finally a 22-km sea corridor — the Rs 4,000-crore Western Freeway Sea Link — will run from Bandra to Worli, Worli to Nariman Point and Cuff Parade. And a harbour link to connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai is also on the cards. But post-tsunami, Mumbai’s slum relocation along the Coastal Regulation Zone may come unstuck.
