Mumbai: Now, monorail banks on telecom sector for boost

In a bid to generate revenue from the loss making Chembur-Jacob Circle Monorail corridor that is shut for 10 months now, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has planned to allot space on Mumbai Monorail piers for development of telecom infrastructure, MMRDA officials said.

Earlier in 2017, it had plans for having space for advertises and hoardings; however, it did not get any response on the same, MMRDA officials said. Hence, it has now planned to explore an option of giving space for telecom equipment for providing shared cellular coverage.

An MMRDA official said, "We are exploring this, and this can be another revenue generating model. A few months ago, a telecom operator had also approached us on the same, but we have called in for tenders for the same considering we cannot allot space without conducting perfect competition in for of tendering it out."

Ever since it was made operational in 2014, the Mumbai Monorail venture has been facing losses with it getting a mere ridership of around 15,000 commuters daily due to which it has not been able to make the operational cost for running the Monorail. The MMRDA has almost spent around Rs 3,000 crore on Mumbai Monorail, till now.

An MMRDA official added, "However, once the second phase is also made operational by next year, the ridership will be more than 60 or 70,000, and this means it will be worth for telecom operators to have telecom infrastructure. Also, the infrastructure will be useful for residential and commercial establishments throughout the alignment."

TO SLIDE AGAIN

The MMRDA plans to make the first phase of Monorail operational from September 1, 2018. The Mumbai Monorail is divided into two phases, of which the first phase is between Chembur and Wadala, followed by the second between Wadala and Jacob Circle. The first phase was made operational in 2014 but is shut since November 2017 owing to fire incident.