Mumbai, Jan. 4 (IANS) The much-awaited showpiece Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will be opened this month, and the toll for cars has been fixed at Rs 250 for the first year, officials said here on Thursday.
The state Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and attended by Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and other ministers accorded approval for the toll proposal of Rs 250 per car for the opening year.
Shinde said the toll is 50 per cent lower than the rate charged for vehicles as per the general rules of road tax and it will be reviewed next year.
For frequent travellers, the return pass will come at a discount of 50 per cent of the one-way fare, the daily pass will cost 2.5 times the one-way fare, while the monthly pass will be 50 times of Rs 250.
The MTHL, officially ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee Shivdi-Nhavasheva Atal Setu’, is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next few days, according to officials.
Post the Cabinet meeting, state minister Girish Mahajan informed mediapersons that the toll is very reasonable and lower than other highways for travel on the 21.8-km long MTHL, which has cost a total of Rs 21,200 crore, including a loan component of Rs 15,100 crore.
Mahajan said that in order to recover the mega-project costs, the toll will be levied for around 30 years by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), for which toll booths have been built at Chirle in Navi Mumbai.
The MTHL will slash the travel distance between Panvel and south Mumbai by around 15 km, and save commuting time of almost 100-120 minutes during peak hours, enabling motorists to save hugely on fuel costs, reducing pollution, traffic and congestions.
In order to avoid disturbing the protected flamingo bird sanctuary at Sewri mudflats in the Thane Creek, a Ramsar wetland site, MTHL has installed sound-barriers on both sides.
It also has visual barriers for the sensitive locations like the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Mahul Oil Refinery along the MTHL.
The MTHL will offer faster connectivity to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg, the Mumbai-Pune Highway and other major national and state thoroughfares.
Work on what is the country’s longest creek road-bridge started in 2018, but missed several deadlines, including during the Covid pandemic.
–IANS
qn/arm
