Sobo to Worli: Coastal road work to begin next month

9.98km stretch expected to be built in 4 yrs at ₹12K cr

MUMBAI : Paving the way for its ambitious coastal road project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) standing committee gave a final nod for construction of the first phase (southern part) of the project, which will cost ₹12,721 crore, on Tuesday. Work on the first phase is expected to start by next month after issuing work orders to the contractors and is expected to be completed in the next four years, civic officials said.

The proposal to sanction the first phase was held back earlier by the committee citing cost escalation from roughly around ₹6,000 crore to ₹12,000 crore within a year. Addressing the standing committee on Tuesday, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said there were major reasons that led to the cost escalation like increase in fuel prices, rupee depreciation, amount kept for biodiversity as per environment ministry guidelines and increase in cost of steel.

The BMC plans to construct a 29.2 km-long coastal road starting from Princess Street Flyover, Marine Lines to Kandivli, which will be eight lanes, with two dedicated bus lanes for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). The total project cost is estimated to be around ₹15,000 crore. The first phase will include an under-sea tunnel starting from Princess Street flyover to Priyadarshini Circle, then a road on reclaimed land till Worli. One arm of the coastal road will connect the Bandra-worli Sea link. The coastal road will connect western suburbs along the coast with a combination of under-sea tunnels, roads on reclaimed land and elevated road. Currently, the civic body will issue work orders for construction work of the southern part of the coastal road.

“Mobilisation of resources will start from October and we are aiming to start the construction

Cost estimate of phase 1 last year

ACTUAL COST OF PHASE 1 Total length of the coastal road project from Princess Street flyover to Kandivli

LENGTH OF PHASE 1

Number of lanes on coastal road

Dedicated lanes for Bus Rapid Transit System

Area being reclaimed by BMC for phase 1

will start from October and we are aiming to start the construction by end of October. We have scrutinised each and every item included in the project. The contractors and the consultant will be penalised if any of the deadlines to complete the work is missed.

AJOY MEHTA, BMC commissioner by end of October,”mehta told HT later.

In the meeting on Tuesday, committee members gave various suggestions such as cycling and jogging track, public utilities and platform for immersion of Ganesha idols. Mehta said, “We have scrutinised each and every item included in the project. The

Mahalaxmi Temple

Priyadarshini Park contractors and the consultant will be penalised if any of the deadlines to complete the work is missed. Also, we have ensured that all the necessary permissions were in place before floating the tenders in order to avoid delay in the future. Such project details have been closely monitored by our team and have been

Bandra

Worli

Maa Hajiani Masjid

Haji Ali

Nariman Point

Coastal road

Coastal road tunnel reviewed by international consultants as well.” Mehta added that there will not be further escalation to the project cost.

A senior civic official said, “A part of the project cost may not be used. For instance, we have kept four percent as contingency fund. Along with this, around ₹1,700 crore are government taxes.”