Coastal Road delayed, use of Metro 3 muck questionable

Citizens will have to wait longer for the coastal roads as the project has been further delayed due to the tendering process. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was supposed to shortlist bidders for this project by end of last month but the tendering process is still on.

In addition, though the BMC aims to complete the work in four years there is no specific date when the project will start.

The civic body recently allocated Rs 1,000 crore for this 29.20-km-long coastal road which will be constructed in two phases. The southern end of the coastal road which is 9.98 km long will stretch from the Princess Street Flyover at Marine Lines to the Worli end of the Bandra Worli Sea

Link. While, the northern end which is 19.22 km will extend from Bandra side of the Bandra Worli Sea Link to Kandivali in the western suburbs.

Sanjay Mukherjee, additional municipal commissioner, told the Free Press Journal, “The tendering process is still on therefore bidders have yet not been shortlisted.” Also, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation

Limited (MMRCL) has plans that they would use the muck excavated due to the digging work for the Metro III (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) line for the coastal road project with the help of the BMC.

“The coastal road is a highly technical and complicated project so the muck that comes out will have to be tried and tested. Only the components which suit the construction of the coastal roads will be used out of all the muck that will be generated. We also have our own tunnel in this project so we will generate our own muck which will be given first priority,” Mukherjee said.

There will be four interchanges at Amarsons Garden at Breach Candy, Haji Ali, Worli and Bandra in the first phase.

A senior engineer working on this project said, “Use of muck depends on quality whether it is suitable and it has to be certified by consultants. Also, synchronisation of both the projects is a task as the work for Metro III and coastal road project cannot be stuck midway.”

The total cost for the coastal road project is Rs 15,000 crore and will be financed by funds of the civic body.