Construction work on the extension of the Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro-7 up to the international airport in the south end and Bhayander in the north end is expected to start within six months. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has floated bids for construction of the extension on Monday.
Confirming the same, an MMRDA official said, "Construction work on both the extensions — around 10km elevated route in the north and 3.5km underground route in the south — is expected to start within next six months. Along with extension work, we are also constructing two flyovers in Mira-Bhayander area on behalf of the local civic bodies."
Initially, MMRDA had proposed to extend the Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro-7 corridor to domestic airport terminal but with Metro-III running underground, it decided to terminate the extension at the international airport. The MMRDA has cited technical challenges for the change in plan.
The overall 13.5-km-long extension on both the northern and southern end will cost around Rs 6,518 crore, according to estimations of MMRDA.
Currently, around 50 per cent of civil construction work on Metro-7 is complete and work on track laying is expected to start by end of this year. The corridor is expected to be operational by 2020.
Meanwhile, the International airport also known as T-2 is set to become the hub of Metro connectivity considering it will be connected with the western suburbs and further by Metro. Apart from Metro-7, Colaba-Seepz Metro-3 connect the airport with south Mumbai. A high-speed Metro corridor has also been proposed between Mumbai International Airport and the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport.
