Business Standard

India’s twin growth engines get infra connectivi­ty boost

Mumbai’s 1st coastal road opens for traffic

- AMRITHA PILLAY Mumbai, 11 March

The Mumbai Coastal Road kept its date with the city before the state and the general elections. State dignitarie­s inaugurate­d the project on Monday, amid fanfare, including a special city transport bus for women plying the new road.

Starting Tuesday, 9.5 km of the 10.58 km road will be opened to regular traffic. The fullstretc­h, with work at the north-end still underway, is expected to be operationa­l by May. Maharashtr­a Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were present at the inaugurati­on.

The Mumbai Coastal Road, now officially named Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Marg, has been built in a budget of close to ~14,000 crore and a constructi­on period of five years.

Once finished, the full stretch will connect the southern end of the city with the Bandra Worli Sea Link by May. Currently, traffic on the coastal road is restricted to southbound travel between Marine Drive and Worli, operating for twelve hours a day from 8 am to 8 pm, and only on weekdays.

The missing gap, a stretch of just over a kilometre, is expected to directly connect the coastal road to the sea link. The last-leg of the project was reportedly delayed owing to changes made to the project design to accommodat­e requests from the fisherfolk community of the city. Brihanmumb­ai Municipal Corporatio­n (BMC), the nodal authority for the project, expects the coastal road will help cut down travel time by 70 per cent. In addition to this first stretch of the coastal road, BMC is also developing the second phase of the coastal road connecting Versova, a western suburb of the city, to further north parts of the city at Dahisar. According to news reports, the second stretch is estimated to cost another ~16,621 crore and will be completed over four years.

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 ?? PHOTO: KAMLESH PEDNEKAR ??
PHOTO: KAMLESH PEDNEKAR

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