Your travel woes while going to Alibaug or Mandwa are likely to reduce. With the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) finalising the evaluation of a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) service, people can now hope to take their cars through the east coast of the city right up till Mandwa and Alibaug for just Rs620, per four persons.
The MMRDA had appointed an agency to do a comprehensive analysis of the east coast passenger water transport. The study was to submit the feasibility of RoRo services, where car passengers can board a vessel with their vehicles and take the sea route to Alibaug, Mandwa, Nagaon and other beach areas.
The consultant, i-maritime consultancy services, has said the project is feasible with three vessels carrying 80 cars and 320 passengers.
“Each vessel can make 10 trips per day, totalling 30 trips per day,” stated its presentation earlier this month.
Motorists take over two hours on the existing roads to reach Alibaug from Mumbai — a distance of about 108km.
“If they take the sea route, the travel time up to Mandwa is 10.3 nautical miles, which can be covered in about 85 minutes. The distance from Mandwa to Alibaug is about 15 km, which would take the motorists 23 minutes more. If the motorists opt for RoRo, they can save an hour’s travel and a lot of fuel,” the presentation stated.
The RoRo service project conceived by the MMRDA will start at the Ferry Wharf (popularly known as Bhaucha Dhakka in Byculla) and will ferry about 3,200 cars per day to Alibaug and Mandwa.
The total project cost is a little over Rs200 crore and operations can begin by 2014.
But, the files may gather dust for a while since the MMRDA top brass feel that passenger water transport should be ideally executed by a single agency. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation has been given the responsibility of executing the west coast passenger water transport project, which is from Borivli to Nariman Point.
“We feel that both the projects should be undertaken by a single agency,” insisted metropolitan commissioner Rahul Asthana.
