Maharashtra has decided to oppose using Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) as a station for the high-speed bullet train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Despite it being the pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state will give priority to International Finance Service Centre (IFSC) to be built on the BKC ground and won’t allow it to be used as the starting point of the underground bullet train.
Dr Nitin Kareer, principal secretary of urban development department (UDD) confirmed that the IFSC would be built on land owned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) at BKC. “The IFSC will be a huge building which will have three-floor underground car parking,” he elaborated.
Mr Kareer further said, “It will be impossible to build an underground station for the high-speed railway on the same ground where the three-storied car parking has been proposed.”
A meeting of UDD and MMRDA officials was held at Mantralaya on Tuesday in which the proposed high speed train and demand of lands by the railway department for the project was discussed.
According to another official from UDD, the meeting was concluded on a point that the state would refuse to give the BKC land and will ask the railway to find an alternative.
“Railway has huge space on its own land located at Bandra and other stations. It should utilise those land,” said the official about what was discussed in a meeting. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too had said that IFSC would be his priority and it would be set up on the BKC ground, while speaking at the Make in India event.
The issue of the high-speed train would be discussed at the cabinet meeting by the end of this month and it is expected that the cabinet will give its nod to implement Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train.
State finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the IFSC would be a huge centre in the financial capital of the country. “It will be an iconic tower in which several meeting halls and convention centres will be built to hold discussions with foreign delegates,” he said.
