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The Mumbai Port Trust, Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) and CIDCO had come together to work on the said project. According to reports, activity on the Belapur Jetty commenced in January 2019 and was completed by September 2021 at an expenditure of INR 8.37 crore.
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The catamarans are anticipated to reach their destination in 40 - 50 minutes and these water services will curtail the travel time to 45 minutes from the earlier 1.5 hours.
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The Mumbai water taxi services that promise to offer connectivity between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai was inaugurated on Thursday, February 17, by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, amongst others.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray presided over the function in Belapur virtually while inaugurating the newly built Belapur jetty. Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also flagged the water taxi services virtually.
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As per the report, two operators out of four will initially start the services and the tentative tariff will be INR 800 and INR 550 for DCT-Belapur and DCT-JNPT routes, respectively. A monthly pass to Belapur would cost around INR 12,000.
The distance between DCT and Belapur will be covered in 25-30 minutes.
The water taxis will operate on three routes:
Domestic Cruise Terminal at Ferry Wharf, Mazgaon and the terminals at Belapur
Belapur and Elephanta Caves
Belapur and JNPT
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It has come to light that the routes will be extended in the future. Other routes include International Cruise Terminal to Elephanta, Domestic Cruise Terminal to Rewas, Karanjade, Dharamtar, Domestic Cruise Terminal to Belapur, Nerul, Vashi and Airoli and DCT to Khanderi islands and JNPT, said officials.