Today the drive to the financial capital via the western express highway best explains everything about the growth model. Motorists tend to use the service road to enter this financial hub. It is lined with little houses with asbestos roofs and unauthorised constructions at the first-floor level. They have withstood the tough monsoons and absence of care over decades. The authorities had erected curtains along the almost 2 kilometre stretch when the G20 was on to ensure that foreign dignitaries did not get to see what lay behind these covers.
The drive through the inner roads reveals that it is the lower middle class which resides and these settlements have only common toilets. The drive along the bumpy lane leads to a high class IB-school which has chauffeurs waiting outside in their BMWs, Audis and Mercedes cars. One would pass the little used metro station which has strays taking shelter before reaching a high-end housing complex named after a European city. Further down before one reaches a five-star hospital, there is open defecation as the hamlet does not have running water and there are myriads of slums. The entry to the financial capital takes a turn for the grandiose as almost every financial institution is located here. Chaotic traffic and several Michelin star restaurants dot the way as one can get lost in this unreal world. How do we plan our cities, as this could be the story anywhere in the country?
Mumbai Aqua Line Metro Misery: Glitches, Gimmicks, Gaps
Every year all governments — centre, state and municipals spend a lot of money in building infrastructure. The word to use is spend and not invest, which is typical of how capex is structured in the country. There are ambitious targets which are met. The best engineers are given contracts to execute projects. But — as can be seen in Mumbai — there are horrendous time overruns which also leads to cost overruns and vitiates the effort in terms of time and money expended.
The Mumbai metro project was to be completed by October 26 in a period of 15 years. There are to be around 16 lines spanning over 500 kms. The opening of the only underground metro has been celebrated as being quite singular. This is the famous Colaba-Bandra-Seepz line which is to run for 33.5 km long underground metro line. The first 12.44 km has been opened. It has been developed at a cost of over Rs 32,000 crore. The present stretch is open from SEEPZ to Bandra Kurla Complex which is the financial hub of the country. A journey taken during peak time will reveal that there are not too many users of this line. The problem is with the design of the metro line.
Metro lines everywhere in the world operate on the concept of inter-connectivity wherein there are easy transfers to other lines. This enables commuters to cross over across different zones which in Mumbai would mean the western, central and New Mumbai links. While there are only a few lines operational, introspection would call for ensuring there is this connectivity. In fact, there is a pressing need to have a connection to the existing railway lines operated as the Western, Central and Harbour lines by the Indian Railways so that these lines are effective. Further, there is need to ensure that once a person emerges from the metro station, there is road transport available. The aqua line fails on all these scores. The metro lines are under the jurisdiction of MMRDA and MMRCL which are in charge of developing different lines. While it is not clear if they have been talking to each other while designing the network, there is definitely absence of coordination with the suburban railway authorities which come under Indian Railways.
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The present station which leads to the financial centre is way off and requires a 15-30 minutes’ walk to the offices which are sprawled across this region. There is no option of using public transport to reach the office nor a taxi-auto service given that the roads do not allow turns given the congestion. The larger question is whether this line will serve any purpose to ease travel. In fact, ideally the aqua line should be connected to what is called the red line or Line 7 which is operational and goes down the western express highway.
In retrospect this sounds a rudimentary idea which should have occurred to those who planned this line as this is the basic concept of metro railway network. While it is true that there will always be commuters who travel once all the lines are operational in the next five years, given the size of the population, it does not reflect well on planning.
Interestingly the mono-rail service which runs between Chembur and Mahalaxmi started in 2014 but had to close down for several reasons including the usage. It has recommenced operations but capacity utilisation is still low at around 20-25%. It is not surprising that the frequency of these trains has been reduced to lower operating costs. But it defeats the purpose of having such a system in place. The losses are supposed to be over Rs 500 crore. There should have been lessons to be learnt when the metro system was drafted.
There is reason to believe that while the authorities are good in starting various projects, there is not much effort which goes into these final details. Mumbai is a city known for not having footpaths, and it does look like the authorities do not have this high on the agenda as scant attention is paid. The state of roads during the monsoon season is well known to the point that the public face potholes with stoicism which comes from accepting the fact that the megapolis will never change.
As the country embarks on the journey to become a developed economy, there is need to stress on quality of growth. Reaching the threshold of $ 14,000 per capita income will happen as the size of the cake expands. But the qualitative aspect would require a different mindset. More importantly, we need to focus on quality along with quantity to bring about real development.
The author is Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda and author of ‘Corporate Quirks: The Darker Side of the Sun’. Views are personal
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