Can World Bank $430 million broker state-rly peace deal?

City may suffer if both keep fighting over title of lucrative Bandra land

There is some good news from Washington DC for the millions of Mumbaikars who travel daily on crowded local trains. The World Bank on Wednesday approved a loan of $430 million to improve the suburban railways as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project II (A).  The Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will implement the project.
The loan, close to Rs2,000 crore, means a lot and it will help improve the railway infrastructure in the city, MRVC managing director PC Sehgal said. "We have already undertaken some parts of the project. The loan will speed up the entire process."
There is a catch though — the Bandra land. The railways and the government are locked in a dispute over the ownership of the land. The title of the 20 hectare land next to the Bandra railway station is disputed and the matter is pending with the suburban collector. Chief minister Ashok Chavan recently said the land should be used (given out on lease) to benefit the city's infrastructure, especially the suburban railways.
The land can generate enough money, according to both the MMRDA and the MRVC, to bail out the entire MUTP-II project. "We hope to sort out everything regarding the title of the land," MMRDA additional commissioner SVR Srinivas said. "Once that is done, infrastructure financing will get a major boost."
Sehgal too said that the project would get a major financial fillip once the plot was leased out. "It will reduce a lot of burden for the government as well as the railways," he said.
In a written statement from Washington DC, World Bank senior urban transport specialist and project team leader Hubert Nove-Josserand said, "The first phase of MUTP has already managed to reduce the level of crowding in suburban trains from 4,500 to 4100 passengers per 9-coach train at peak hours despite an increase in traffic."
He said the next phase would improve the capacity, operational efficiency, level of comfort apart from strengthening the institutional capacity of the agencies in charge of the suburban rail system in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. As many as 720 trains will be added. The project will also expand maintenance facilities, provide additional stabling lines, and complete the conversion of 1500V DC to 25KV AC traction. This conversion will increase the suburban railway speed from 80 kmph to 100 kmph.
MMRDA will continue as the nodal agency; but the main scope of work will be with the MRVC.
The World Bank has so far not given any assistance to MUTP-II (B), which includes extending the tracks as well the resettlement and rehabilitation of projected affected people.