Shops under Andheri flyover okayed

MUMBAI, JULY 27: The Public Works Department (PWD) has submitted the report of its one-man committee to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region De...

MUMBAI, JULY 27: The Public Works Department (PWD) has submitted the report of its one-man committee to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The report has cleared the Andheri flyover for commercial exploitation.

Slated for completion by the year-end, the mammoth 1.5-km-long flyover spanning three junctions on the highway was refused a no objection certificate (NoC) by the MMRDA as the impact of building shops beneath the flyover had not been studied.

The flyover was a unique Build Operate Transfer (BOT) project where the investment of Rs 110 crore was to be recovered by the builder Madhav Jog through the sale of shops in the two-storeyed Western Mall. The absence of an NoC from the MMRDA had put a stay on the sale of shops. The state Urban Development Department too had stated that the builder would have to obtain an NoC from the MMRDA.

Story continues below this ad

Last month, the PWD appointed a former chief engineer of the BMC V N Abhyankar, to study the impact of commercialisation on the trafficaround.

According to Abhyankar, building shops under the Andheri flyover will not cause traffic congestion and the existing roads and parking spaces were in fact far in excess of what was required. The report had already been accepted in principle by the state government.

“There will be not more than 200 additional trips per hour from different roads on account of the shops,” Abhyankar told Express Newsline. He used existing shopping centres like Shopper’s Stop and Heera Panna as the basis for his study. The highway has 10 lanes in both direction. The flyover will add another six lanes.

Large-scale commercial exploitation beneath the flyover, the first of its kind in the country, had raised a question mark over the impact it would have on the traffic around. Experts said that it would actually negate the benefits of building the flyover, with the traffic police too raising objections.

Story continues below this ad

“The two-storeyed shopping mall will add to traffic, but not so much as to block all 16 lanes,” Abhyankarclarified.

The road presently bears a load of 1200 vehicles per lane per hour, with another 1800 vehicles per hour being added on the flyover. Abhyankar also used 20-year traffic projection studies. “We also found that for 20 years, the road requires only four lanes on either side,” he said.

Abhyankar’s 60-page report, a draft of which was submitted to the PWD on July 15, has also cleared the existing parking space for vehicles beneath the flyover.

“The parking provided for by the builder is presently far in excess of the required space,” he said. If the parking space fell short in future, he recommended valet parking.