India, March 20 -- The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) has unveiled an ambitious plan to develop a 36-route water metro network across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, aimed at carrying up to 18 million passengers annually.

The proposal received in-principle approval from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at a meeting held on March 17.

Modelled on the successful water metro system in Kochi, Kerala, the project is based on a detailed report prepared by Kochi Metro Rail Ltd and submitted earlier this month.

Mumbai has experimented with water transport in the past, including hovercraft services in the 1990s and a Belapur-Gateway route launched two years ago, both of which were discontinued due to high costs and poor response.

Under the cu...