The Chief Minister's Office of Maharashtra announced on 25 June 2026 that the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, approved two significant urban mobility projects at a meeting held at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai: an elevated metro extension under Nagpur Metro Phase-2 and a new coastal connector linking the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Sagar Setu to Bandra Fort.

Context

The committee cleared the construction of an additional link road from the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Sagar Setu (Mumbai Coastal Road) to Bandra Fort, at an estimated project cost of Rs 1,722.40 crore. The connector will be 3.55 km in length and is expected to cut travel time on this corridor from 20 to 45 minutes down to just 10 minutes. Implementation has been entrusted to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Separately, the committee approved an elevated metro extension under Nagpur Metro Rail Phase-2, covering the stretch from Kanhan River to Kanhan town in Nagpur district. This 1.40 km elevated corridor will have one elevated station and is estimated to cost Rs 310.35 crore. Execution will be handled by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MahaMetro), subject to central government sanction.

Policy Backdrop

Nagpur Metro Phase-1 received central government sanction in 2015 and became partially operational from 2019 onward, establishing MahaMetro as the executing agency for the city's urban rail network. The Mumbai Coastal Road project received initial state cabinet approval in 2015, with subsequent phases cleared in 2017–2018, making the Bandra connector a logical extension of that long-running infrastructure programme.

Maharashtra constituted the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure in 2023 specifically to accelerate urban mobility decisions and reduce bureaucratic delays on large capital projects. Both approvals announced on 25 June 2026 flow directly from that institutional mechanism.

Stakeholders and Impact

For Mumbai commuters, the 3.55 km Bandra connector promises to dramatically ease the notoriously congested western-suburb link, where peak-hour travel times currently stretch to 45 minutes for a short distance. The connector ties the coastal road's existing network into the Bandra peninsula, potentially redistributing a significant share of daily vehicular traffic.

In Nagpur, the Kanhan extension targets residents of the Kanhan area who currently lack reliable public transport options. Adding an elevated station and a 1.40 km corridor to the Phase-2 network strengthens last-mile connectivity for one of the city's growing peripheral zones. The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Ajit Pawar, Minister Shivendrasinharaje Bhosale, and senior officials.

What's Next

The Nagpur Kanhan metro extension will move to implementation only after the central government grants its formal sanction — a step that typically involves appraisal by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and approval from the Union Cabinet or its designated committee. MahaMetro is expected to initiate detailed project reports and tendering once that clearance is in hand.

For the Bandra connector, MSRDC will proceed with land acquisition, environmental clearances, and contractor procurement. The approval of the Rs 1,722.40 crore outlay by the infrastructure committee marks the formal green light for this process, and Maharashtra's track record on coastal-road execution will be closely watched as a benchmark for delivery timelines.