IE : Subway Project Scrapped, FOBs to come up instead : Aug 1, 2007
Subway project scrapped, FOBs to come up instead
Swapnil Rawal
Mumbai July 31: Three of the city’s vital subway projects, planned under the
Pedestrian Grade Separation Scheme (PGSS) to provide safe and exclusive
pedestrian crossings, will now be scrapped and instead, escalated foot
over-bridges (FOBs) will be constructed in their place.
Even after five years of planning and two years since the Rs 73-crore PGSS
project kicked off, the work has only begun at six of the 27 proposed sites
due to unforeseen problems-opposition by local residents and engineering
hurdles. And, even these six subways are far from ready
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had, under the Mumbai Urban
Transport Project (MUTP), proposed subways near Sena Bhavan in Dadar,
Kataria Junction in Mahim and Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi. However,
the projects have encountered two major setbacks-stiff opposition from
residents living near the Shiv Sena headquarters and the discovery of the
city’s 72 main water pipeline at Kataria Junction and Siddhivinayak Temple.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Shrikant Singh confirmed that the subway
project had become unfeasible due to these problems. “There are engineering
difficulties in the construction of subways. The constructions at Kataria
Junction and Siddhivinayak Temple would need several traffic diversions,
which would take a lot of time. The area that has been dug up will now be
used to lay the foundation of an escalated FOB,” he said.
According to Singh, BMC officials, in a chief secretary level-meeting, have
discussed the issue with a World Bank team which was visiting the city last
week.
“FOBs are the only alternative. Engineers are working out the plan for FOBs,
which would take less time to construct,” Singh said, without committing on
a time frame for the completion of the three projects.
Another senior BMC official, on condition of anonymity, said “Constructing
subways at Kataria Junction and Siddhivinayak Temple is possible but it
would shoot up the cost. We put forward the ground-level difficulties before
the World Bank representatives and they appreciated it.”
According to BMC officials, there are “engineering difficulties” in the
construction of subways caused by the diversion of 21 major utilities below
the ground. BMC is considering building more FOBs in the remaining locations
rather than expensive and time-consuming subways.
Publication : IE; Section : MN; Pg : 5; Date : 1/8/07
URL : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=248687