Mumbai Metro to begin operations by December 2012

The Mumbai Metro will start operations by the end of 2012, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has reportedly said. The first line will be a 11.7 km elevated line on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkhopar route.The original deadline for the project was August 2012, but ‘due to delays in getting right of work (ROW) permits from the government and other clearances for the project’, the project will eventually see operations by the end of this year.As per the current status update, 85 % of civil work is complete, which includes 100 % of viaduct piling works and 91% U-Girders cast completed, which includes stations and depots, a Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) official said.Speaking to Rail.co, Dilip Kawatkar, Joint Project Director (PR), MMRDA said:“There were some issues related to ROW, but it has been taken care. Due to this, we will be extending the construction concession period for the project by five months and might extend the deadline to December 2012 from the previous deadline of August 2012.”The first line is developed by MMOPL, a consortium formed by Reliance Energy Ltd with 69 % stake, Veolia Transport with 5 % stake and the balance stake of 26 % with the MMRDA.The consortium have invested $500 million in developing the line which will have standard gauge track.The line will have 12 stations on the VAG route starting from Versova, D N Nagar, Azad Nagar, Andheri, WEH, Chakala, Airport Road, Marol, Saki Naka, Subhash Nagar, Asalpha and Ghatkopar.