June 8, will be the landmark day for the residents of western suburbs of Andheri. The city will get the first Metro after a wait of 7 years. The Metro will link Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar or as it is called the VAG corridor.
The Mumbai Metro One private Limited is a special purpose vehicle between Reliance Infrastructure and MMRDA. The inauguration of the Metro has as much drama as the construction. The Metro which has been awaiting Railway Security board clearance for some months suddenly saw political activity with the newly elected BJP MP from Mumbai Kirit Somaiya releasing the Security Clearance certificate even before it was send to MMRDA or MMOPL. The newly elected MP then proclaimed that he will begin the metro services at 3 pm on Saturday from Ghatkopar. This has enraged the state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who has been showcasing Mumbai Metro as the achievement of the Cong-NCP government. With the first advantage in favour of BJP who has already taken credit for abrupt start of the services, the Chief Minister today raised the issue of Metro fares in the State Assembly. He was taken by surprise first with the security clearance and now the fares. The fares of the Mumbai Metro is one of the key controversy behind the clouded inauguration of Mumbai Metro on June 8th.
Also Read: Rel Infra to gain from Mumbai Metro's Rs 400cr ticket sales
But before that, What is the Mumbai Metro about. The Reliance Infrastructure won the bid to construct and operate the Mumbai Metro in 2007. The concession agreement allows the MMOPL to operate the metro for 35 years. Started as an Rs 2356 crore project, the escalated cost now stands at Rs 4300 crores. MMOPL does not expect to make any profits in the 1st year of operations. The operating expenses estimated at the time of signing of concession agreement stood at around Rs 100 crores for 2014, this operating expenditure now has inflated to Rs 240 crores. At the time of concession agreement, the fares decided were between Rs 9-13. MMOPL expects new notified fares to to help company meet the first year operating expenses. The new notified fares now stands at Rs 10-40 and this is the root of the political discord between the CM and MMOPL. But the promotional fare is at Rs 10 for first 30 days.
Mumbai Metro:
Mumbai Metro will operate between 5:30 am in the morning to 12 in the night. At peak hours the rakes will operate at a frequency of 4 minutes, and 8 minutes frequency during non-peak hours. Each rakes will have 4 coaches each and there will be 16 rakes that will operate. By 2017 the company expects the coaches to be increased to 6. Each trip will ferry nearly 1500 commuters from Versova to Ghatkopar. The 12 km rail distance will be covered in 21 minutes and help save nearly 90 minutes by road. MMOPL expects 11 lakh commuters on a daily basis.
The Controversy:
Till a few months back Metro was showcased along with the Mumbai T2 terminal as the big blockbuster project build under the Cong-NCP government. The status quo broke, post the Lok Sabha elections and BJP MP Kirit Somaiya came into the picture. BJP MP has suddenly hijacked the Metro Project by securing the Security clearance from its Railway Minister in Delhi. This has irked the Maharashtra CM and now the issue is with respect to fares.
The fares for Mumbai Metro was envisaged under the Tramways Act and fares applicable as per Tramways Act. Hence, at the time of signing the concession agreement the fares were decided between Rs 9-13. Mumbai Metro One or MMOPL was not part of the Metro Railways Act, when the concessions agreement was signed. In 2013, the Maharashtra State Government sought notification of Mumbai Metro under the Metro Railways Act. This was notified in October 2013. This allowed MMOPL to re-calibrate the fares as under the Metro Railways Act. Section 33 of the Act allows the fares to be set by Metro Rail Administrator. In this case Metro Rail Administrator is MMOPL. While the Act allows the MMOPL to set the first fares the revision of the fares can only be done by Fare Fixation Committee, which will comprise of Judicial representation, representative from the Metro Regulator and state government. This fare revision comes under section 34 of the same Act.
The question arises whether the concession agreement will supersede the Act as far as setting of fares is concerned. In a clarification issued by the UPA-II government in February this year, to be precise by the Ministry of Urban Development in consultation with Department of Legal Affairs which comes under Ministry of Law & Justice to Government of Maharashtra and MMOPL - the clarification says Mumbai Metro One now comes under the Metro Railways Act and all its regulations supersede the regulations under Tramways Act from 18th November 2013. Hence the Mumbai Metro is classified as the Metro Administrator and has powers to set initial tariff under section 33.The Act also says concession agreement will be adhered to except where in case of conflict the Metro Railway Act will supersede the concession agreement.
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