Mumbai metro will beat traffic, but at what cost?

MUMBAI: A new underground metro is expected to ease the burden on Mumbai´s notoriously congested roads and railways, but not everybody in India´s sprawling financial capital is happy about the multi-billion-dollar project.

Announced in 2014 with much fanfare, the Metro 3 line has been hailed by backers as essential to help solve the city´s traffic woes and finally provide a link to its airports.

But campaigners are angry at the felling of thousands of trees, and say it could desecrate temples and lead to the destruction of an urban forest tribal groups call home. The scheme has faced considerable opposition in court, delaying completion and highlighting the complexities of undertaking major infrastructure work in the world´s largest democracy where people have the right of redress. “This is one of India´s biggest projects.

It has faced immense difficulties and challenges of different types,” says Ashwini Bhide, managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation. The 231-billion-rupee ($3.6 billion) line will link Mumbai´s popular tourist destination of Colaba in the historic south to SEEPZ, a special economic zone situated 33.5 kilometres (21 miles) north. It will boast 27 stops servicing the coastal city´s busiest business districts, including Bandra Kurla Complex and Lower Parel, where 23 people died during a stampede at a railway station last year.