Infrastructure projects must be completed within three years: CM Fadnavis

Mumbai, Jun 26 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday told officials that infrastructure projects in the state must be completed within three years.

He was speaking at a review meeting of the Thane-Borivali twin tunnel project here, a statement from his office said.

The 11.84-km tunnel aims to significantly cut the travel time between Thane -- on the outskirts of Mumbai -- and the northern suburb of Borivali, and is expected to be completed by December 2028.

The CM emphasized the need for timely completion, expediting rehabilitation of project-affected families, and acquiring necessary forest clearances in a phased manner, the CMO statement said.

Further, he instructed officials to immediately carry out permanent rehabilitation of those displaced by the project, and directed that the Borivali-end works be accelerated.

"A special drive must be launched to complete all rehabilitation-related action within a month," the chief minister said.

The CM also called for swift acquisition of necessary land on the Borivali side from the Adani and Tata Power projects. He asked officials to provide final road planning for laying underground power lines for Adani Power.

Provisions must be made to maintain proper air circulation inside the tunnel, and additional land from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park may be made available for this purpose, the chief minister said.

Necessary permissions for night-time construction and second-phase forest clearances must be obtained without delay, he added.

The project is divided into two `packages' -- Package 1 (Borivali side): 5.75 km, estimated cost Rs 6,178 crore, and Package 2 (Thane side) 6.09 km, Rs 5,879 crore.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 12,057 crore.

With the construction of the twin tunnel, the travel time between Borivali and Thane will be reduced from over one hour at present to around 15 minutes.

It will result in significant fuel savings and a reduction of 1.4 lakh metric tonnes in annual carbon emissions, the statement said. PTI MR KRK