No more ‘too blue, too gaudy’ — MMRDA repainting Mumbai Trans Harbour Link grey

MMRDA has settled on steel-grey for all bridges & biscuit colour for all Metro rail projects going ahead, it is learnt.

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s showpiece Sewri-Nhava Sheva Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), the country’s longest sea link, is set to be opened for public use early next year. But complaints over its vivid blue colour have prompted the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to consider a repaint and settle on a colour scheme for all future transport infrastructure projects, ThePrint has learnt.

Requesting anonymity, a senior official from the MMRDA, the government agency that developed the 22-km sea link connecting Mumbai with Navi Mumbai, said that henceforth, bridges will be painted steel-grey and Metro railway lines will be painted in biscuit colour.

“We studied international models to understand what looks the best. Globally, most bridges are grey, so we have decided to go with the same for MTHL and for all future bridges,” the official said.

“Even for Metro lines, it is important to have uniformity as it’s going to be an extensive network of corridors crisscrossing over the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).”

The MMRDA is constructing a Metro rail network of more than 300 kilometres across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the urban agglomeration of Mumbai.

The official added that the MMRDA is also considering making an aesthetic NOC from the authority mandatory for any construction in areas under its jurisdiction, such as the Bandra Kurla Complex.

ThePrint reached MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee via calls and messages to confirm the agency’s decision to settle on a colour scheme for all transport infrastructure projects going forward but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.