Mumbai: Maharashtra will have operational Metro rail projects with a total length of 360 km in the next five to six years, according to a review meeting held by Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai on Tuesday.
“This will be the total length following completion of nine more Metro and monorail projects being taken up by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). A total investment of about ₹1,40,000 lakh crore would flow into these Metro projects. This would increase the number of daily Metro users to about one crore,” said Mr. Naidu.
The Minister said that during the last three years, the Central government had approved total investment of ₹67,523 crore to improve urban infrastructure in Maharashtra under various new missions. “This is the highest investment approved for any State so far. This figure would further increase, as more investments would follow under the Housing for All Mission for affordable housing in urban areas,” Mr. Naidu said.
Speaking about the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Minister said that 263 of the 384 cities and towns with statutory local bodies in the State have so far been declared open defecation free. In the Smart Cities Mission, the State accounts for the highest number of cities among the 60 selected so far. Seven cities from the State have been selected for the mission: Pune, Solapur, Kalyan-Dombivili, Nagpur, Nashik, Thane and Aurangabad.
“Out of the 36,000 beneficiaries who have availed of the benefit of interest subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), 10,721 were from Maharashtra, accounting for 30% of the total such beneficiaries. Maharashtra is among the few States to have notified Real Estate Rules and set up Regulatory Authorities,” he said.
