Infrastructure Development in Mumbai

Infrastructure is considered to be the arteries and veins of any country's development prospects. Real Estate as a whole contributes majorly to the GDP of the economy. Its a trigger for Job creation. It directly and indirectly benefits allied industries like Steel, Cement, Paint, Tiles, Furniture and so on. If we turn our attention to Mumbai, the Financial Capital of India, it is a place which has limited land availability and huge influx of population/job seekers. Hence, land is a major requirement for developers to construct projects and give people their dream homes. Few infrastructure projects planned and under implementation are listed below :

1. Metro Line : As of today, we have Versova-Ghatkopar Metro Line which is functional. The other lines that are planned and underway are :

a. Dahisar - DN Nagar Line

b. Dahisar - Andheri Line

c. DN Nagar - BKC - Mandale Line

d. Cuffe Parade - BKC - Seepz

e. Wadala - Kanjurmarg - Kasaravadavli Line

f. Swami Samarth Nagar - Seepz - Vikhroli Line

g. Kapurbawadi/Thane - Bhiwandi - Kalyan Line

h. Wadala - GPO/ CST Line

i. Gadge Maharaj Chowk/ Mahalaxmi - Chembur Monorail

2. Mumbai Trans-Harbour Sea Link :

This shall connect Nhava Sheva to Sewri thus reducing the travel time by road to Mumbai from Navi-Mumbai. 

3. Ferry Services : 

Its a known fact for those travel from Mumbai to Alibaug, the time saved by taking a ferry compared to Roads and Railways. Mumbai to Goa ferry service are planned to start in December, 2017. It is expected to reach Goa in 7 hours compared to 12-14 hours by Road and 12 hours by Railways. Its an alternate route for people who plan to go to Goa from Mumbai. Other ferry services like Elephanta Caves to CBD Belapur have been on and off in the past.

4. Airport near Kharghar :

Cidco has already awarded International Airport in Navi Mumbai to GVK who piped GMR in the race. Traditionally, it has been experienced that wherever the Airport shifts the development begins in those areas. 

5. Mumbai Coastal Road :

The Mumbai Coastal Road is expected to reduce travel time from South Mumbai to North Mumbai and enhance connectivity in the Western Suburbs. 

Let me explain in detail what each of the above developments are expected to do in Future below :

1. Metro Line :

The Metro Line is expected to provide an alternative mode of transport compared to traditional railway line and western express highway in Mumbai. The traffic will be diverted or will get divided among the two. A counter - argument is not everyone is able to take a metro considering the cost. The answer to it is consider the Versova - Ghatkopar Line in Mumbai. For Eg : If a Metro is nearby for a traveller compared to the traditional railway line, which mode of transport does one prefer? Obviously, the one which is near to his/her home. Convenience takes over fare difference between the traditional railway line and Metro Line. This shall lessen the congestion on both the Railway Line, Metro Line as well as Western Express Highway. The Western Express Highway traffic will lessen temporarily due to the advent of Metro Line. The reason for this is considering the traffic on Western Express Highway, Metro will provide a time saving, less physically tiring and cheaper mode of transport for people. This will lead to reduction of traffic on Western Express Highway albeit for a short period of time.

2. Mumbai Trans-Harbour Sea Link :

This shall replicate the time saved by taking Bandra-Worli Sea Link compared to the traditional route via Dadar/ Shivaji Park/ Sena Bhavan on a longer route. The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Sea Link will provide direction to people who are willing to travel to South Mumbai from Pune, Lonavala, Khandala, Mahabhaleshwar/Panchgani and Goa. Technically, it will again divide the traffic going to North Mumbai and South Mumbai. The North Mumbai people will have 2 options to reach i.e. one via Vashi Toll Bridge and Nhava Sheva Link Road. Going by the Psychology of people to reach faster they may consider avoiding the Nhava-Sheva Link Road while travelling to North Mumbai compared to South Mumbai. Simultaneously, this shall reduce traffic congestion on Vashi Toll Bridge because of diversion of South Mumbai and North Mumbai traffic. Technically, the diversion shall happen from Panvel. It can be a tourist attraction in its initial days of launch. 

3. Ferry Services :

Since there are no signals, no traffic jams problems via sea way plus its faster compared to roadways and railways, ferry services will change the way people travel to their places. The Mumbai-Goa ferry service will boost tourism because of it providing an alternate faster route of transport compared to other modes of transport available. A simple comparison can be made while comparing the travel time taken to reach Alibaug from Mumbai. It takes 2.5 hours to reach Alibaug from North Mumbai i.e. Borivali to Alibaug. This includes an hour to 90 mins of train travel to Gateway of India and 45mins to 1 hour to reach Alibaug by ferry. Same route by road will take approximately 3hours to 5hours depending on traffic conditions. 

4. International Airport Near Kharghar :

The International Airport near Kharghar will play the role of sharing Air Traffic with the current Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai, which is already running at full capacity. As the air traffic grows the new International Airport near Kharghar will help reducing the traffic on Western Express Highway as well as having enough capacity to handle the future growth of people taking flights to their destinations.

5. Mumbai Coastal Road :

This will turn out to be a boon to the people travelling from North to South Mumbai by road to work. Additionally, if we see the trend in Commercial Real Estate most of the offices have shifted from South Mumbai to BKC or Secondary Business District or towards North Mumbai. This shall help divert traffic and lessen the burden on Western Express Highway thus providing signal free corridor for people to travel to South Mumbai and other areas in Mumbai. The Coastal Road is broken into various pieces like South Mumbai to Bandra Worli Sea Link, Bandra Worli Sea Link to Versova (Andheri) and from Versova to Kandivali. The average time taken to reach South Mumbai from North Mumbai because of Metro Work and various infrastructure bottlenecks works out to 3hours during peak hours. This shall easily go down to 1.5hours or less once Coastal Road becomes operational. 

We can forsee the Mumbai Traffic moving to a well organised and managed one with infrastructure developments planned to decongest the city.