Surat: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has accelerated the process of taking possession of private land required for the Multi-Modal Transport Hub (MMTH) project near the GSRTC building and the Khand Bazaar railway underbridge.Under Phase 1 of the project, construction of the GSRTC Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) is nearing completion, with 42% of the work on the east side of Surat railway station already done. The elevated road corridor under Phase 2 has reached about 25% progress.To review the status, municipal commissioner Shalini Agarwal inspected the site and directed officials to fast-track the acquisition and handover of private land needed for the elevated road. She also instructed the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited to clear obstructed areas for the ISBT approach and asked SMC departments to ensure timely provision of drainage and water facilities for the project.A total of 18,858sq m of SMC-owned land—valued at approximately Rs 175 crore — has already been handed over to the Surat Integrated Transportation Development Corporation Limited (SITCO), the agency developing the MMTH.As part of the railway station redevelopment, 841sq m of land has been acquired, with SMC paying Rs 4.69 crore in compensation. For the elevated bridge near Lambe Hanuman Temple, SMC removed encroachments across five properties on around 200 sq m and handed over possession in November. Road-widening for the elevated corridor is currently underway along Ayurvedic College Road.The project is a joint initiative of Western Railway, GSRTC and SMC, with a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed among all stakeholders to enable smooth execution.
