Maharashtra’s flyover project runs into trouble

It was the World Bank that set the ball rolling against the flyovers in the island city. According to WB officials, it ran against the underlying reasoning behind the WB-financed Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP-II).

Maharashtra Machhimar Kriti Samiti has demanded the scrapping ofthe proposed Worli-Bandra sealink bridge project, work on which is to commence on May 1 this year. “The project will change currents and tides along the coast and severely affect small fisherfolk who fish along the coastline.

Besides the construction and constant rumble of traffic will drive away the fish,” says spokesperson Vijay Bandarkar of the samiti. He explained that this project, conceived in 1986 as the West Coast Freeway was later shelved by the previous Congress regime under pressure from the fisherfolk.

The four-km-long sealink will be an alternative to the heavily congested and polluted Mahim causeway, the only connection between the city and the western suburbs. Work on the approaches will begin on May 1 this year, while the actual construction of the bridge will commence after the monsoons. The samiti is chalking out a protest strategy to oppose the project before construction activity begins.

“We follow a simple principle in such cases, if the project succeeds the people arebenefitted by it, if it doesn’t then the MSRDC saves money,” says an official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Looming large over these projects is the spectre of time and cost overruns. Officials caution that the fate of the Haji Ali-Tardeo viaduct is a case in point. Construction on this two-decker via-duct which was to commence in January this year, was derailed by vociferous protests and threats of agitation from the Tardeo residents’ association.

“Even a delay of a year results in cost escalations of 10 per cent,” says an MSRDC official. The PWD minister asked the IIT to re-examine the via-duct proposal late last year. The study has begun only this month and with the monsoons just three months away, there is no way construction will start before the year end. With elections around the corner, the state government’s Public Works Department (PWD) itself seems to be doing a rethink on the project.

“There is no question of allowing a via-duct in the Tardeo area,though we may be willing to consider a flyover,” said Madhu Shetye of the residents association. He stated that the PWD minister had agreed to consider splitting the via-duct between Peddar Road and Tardeo, but even this had not been agreed to by the residents.

The entire 55-flyover scheme costing an estimated Rs 1,550 crore was designed to smoothen flow of traffic, lop off up to an hour of travel time and reduce pollution in the city. The flyovers were to be completed in two-year construction burst, to cost minimum disruption to people. If they are stopped at this stage, it could result in huge cost overruns besides severely inconveniencing traffic. All the flyovers have been painstakingly studied before their construction began, if even one of them were to be cancelled, “it will be like a water pipeline with varying thickness, the flow of water will be regulated by the thinner section,” says the MSRDC official.