World Bank Document - Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd ...

25. The on-going MUTP-1 project has made significant progress towards achieving
its development objectives with a noted reduction in overcrowding in suburban trains and
operation of new buses of improved design. The MMR Development Authority (MMRDA) has
improved its capacity to manage resettlement and rehabilitation that is now implemented with
reasonable quality. But land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation are still slow, as is
road construction.
26. The design of MUTP-2A builds on the following key lessons learned from the
implementation of MUTP-1 and other transport operations in India.
27. Motivation, ownership, effective implementation planning and sustained followup
on the part of the client is an important factor in implementation success. MRVC, which
started off as a new entity has in course of implementing MUTP-1 developed management
experience, expertise in Bank-assisted operations and capacity to liaise with the several
departments and agencies of IR 2 , GOM, and other stakeholders for implementing the project’s
suburban rail component. This experience has given MRVC the required understanding and
confidence to implement a new externally-funded project on its own in coordination with other
institutions and agencies.
28. The project should be designed in a way that inter-agency coordination does not
become an obstacle to carrying out key activities. One of the key reasons explaining the slow
pace of MUTP-1’s implementation was the complex project design with ambitious
implementation arrangements, involving multiple implementing agencies without effective
coordination. Five project implementing agencies were involved, with MMRDA as the
coordinator. It would have benefitted from a clearer contractual co-ordination framework to
ensure effective progress. Long delays in project components such as station area improvement
schemes and road-over-bridges, requiring greater inter-agency coordination, forced the removal
of these sub-projects from MUTP-1 as part of a project restructuring. To minimize such delays
on account of weak co-operation and ineffective inter-agency coordination, MUTP-2A has been
designed as a simple but comprehensive project for enhancing the quality and magnitude of the
Mumbai suburban rail operations, through activities that will involve essentially IR agencies
coordinated by MRVC. Implementation arrangements for MUTP-2A have been planned in such
a way that progress will not be vulnerable to poor inter-agency coordination.
29. Project design should adequately focus on capacity building of the client,
especially in new areas, and leave space for implementation arrangements to evolve, instead of
being frozen in time, to achieve greater efficiency. The nature and significance of some major
resettlement difficulties were appreciated by the client during the process of implementation.
Through very active Bank involvement, MMRDA has gradually evolved a more sustainable and
2 Central Railway and Western Railway are two of the largest and busiest of the 16 zones of Indian Railways. Their
respective divisions, Mumbai Division of the Central Railway and Mumbai Central Division of the Western
Railway, are involved in this project. IR is a department owned and controlled by GOI, via MOR. IR manufactures
much of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components at its six manufacturing plants, called production units,
which are managed directly by the Ministry. Chennai ICF is one of these. Each of the six production units is headed
by a general manager, who reports directly to the Railways Board. The Research Design and Standards Organization
(RDSO) is a research and development organization under MOR, which functions as a technical adviser and
consultant to the Railways Board, the zonal railways, and the railway production units in respect of design and
standardization of railway equipment and problems related to railway construction, operation and maintenance.
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