November 21: Over 15 lakh Western Railway (WR) commuters residing between Borivli and Virar are in for an indefinite wait before the Borivli-Virar railway line comes through. The railways, who were to fund the long-awaited project, are now contemplating to include it in the agenda of the proposed Mumbai Rail Development Corporation (MRDC), claim sources.

The 24-kilometre extension upto Virar was to be constructed under the Build Operate Lease and Transfer (BOLT) scheme of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project II (MUTP-II). However, the railways faced a severe cash crunch due to the Centre's reduction in the budget from 85 to 15 per cent last year, following which they were forced to seek private participation. Also, after the failure of the BOLT scheme early this year and with mounting persistent pressure from all quarters, including politicians, the railways decided to have the line constructed on its own at a cost of about Rs 500 crore. Global tenders were floated thereafter. The response from private parties however was abysmal.

``No private party except one (name not disclosed) approached the WR in 1995 with a proposal to have the line constructed and also for resettlement of slums which might have been affected by laying the line" claimed an official.The proposal was conceived in August 1970 when the then chief operations manager of the WR asked the Railway Board for a new line, owing to the growing population in the suburbs.

"However, in the last 27 years, there has hardly been any progress except for the documents being moved from one department to the other," said an official. Since privatisation was a failure with the railways, the last resort was to have the line constructed on their own.

``On an average, a one-kilometre operational railway line would have cost Rs one crore. "However, after the slack on part of the state and the railway ministry, the cost has now escalated to about Rs 650 crore,'' he added.

As the new MRDC is slated to be functional only after May 1998, officials are considering if the construction of this line can be added in the "shopping list" of the WR.

Also, with the MRDC's role being limited to gathering finance for smooth running of the suburban system, officials claim the project would meet the same fate as the other railway projects.

``If the MRDC too decides to pay for the project in a phased-wise manner, it would take at least a decade before the line actually becomes operational,'' said sources.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Tandon, CPRO of the WR said he has no information about the project being transferred in the new MRDC's agenda.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.