Mumbai: First contractor fixed for Metro 3 Kalbadevi rehab

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has appointed the contractor for the first of three towers to be built to rehabilitate residents affected by stations coming up on the Girgaum-Kalbadevi stretch of the Metro 3 corridor.
The MMRC finalised Vascon Engineers to construct the building in Kalbadevi, which will have 38 floors and will be constructed in two phases.There will be nine flats on each floor with areas ranging from 405 square feet to 550 square feet, said an MMRC official.
Together the three towers shall make up the biggest rehabilitation project executed by the government involving legal tenants from a middle-class background in any infrastructure project in the city.
The underground Metro 3 shall connect Colaba and Seepz via Bandra, a 32.5 km route. On the way it will serve the populations of Girgaum and Kalbadevi, some of the oldest and most congested neighbourhoods of the city in the south.
The two stations at Kalbadevi and Girgaum will each require around 1,200 square metres of space.
Works for these metro stations have begun at sites where residents have moved out, but the pace is slower than at other stations. With the finalisation of the first building contractor to rehabilitate project-affected persons, the station works are expected to pick up speed.
“The work of this building will be completed in 54 months,” an MMRC official said. “The contractor will undertake work at a cost of Rs 131 crore.”
The process of appointing contractors for the two other towers is underway and a decision is likely soon.
A total of 423 residential units and 289 commercial blocks in the Girgaum-Kalbadevi stretch were affected by the project. Around 20 plots and land parcels with 30 buildings in six non-contiguous blocks were affected.
Kalbadevi residents will be housed in six contiguous blocks. The buildings willpartially come up above the station building. The rehabilitated tenants will get double their current living area.
Part of the land under impacted buildings in Kalbadevi-Girgaum will be utilised by the MMRC for the construction of underground metro stations, ancillary works, ventilation shafts, entry and exit structures and other related activities.