Project 7 : The Road Transformation : Nov 26th,2007
Mumbai’s slow road journey
SEVERAL MEN tug on the rope of a pulley to send a concrete slab attached to the other side soaring into the air. The slab stops with a jerk when it reaches a platform resting on two massive pillars nearly 30 metres – or six storeys high. A few men waiting on the platform yank the slab out and send the rope back down again to pick up another slab. The pulley might be a simple machine, but the men operating it are build- ing a section of what will become what the National Geographic called an Asian engineering marvel: Mumbai’s highest roadway, and the first one to have two tiers.
THE SIX-LANE roadway, to start at Santacruz in the west and end at Chembur in the east, is a landmark in other ways too. It will provide a vi- tal link from the residential western suburbs to the burgeoning retail, finance, infotech and en- tertainment hubs in the east. It will dramatical- ly cut travel time between the endpoints from an appalling two hours now to just 17 minutes. “This is a dream project that promises to shrink Mumbai,” said Milind Mhaiskar, joint commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional De- velopment Authority (MMRDA), which is co-ordinating this project. “Mumbai has never attempted any- thing on this scale before. In the next three years, Mumbai will be a differ- ent and better place to live in,” he said, raising his voice in order to be heard over the din of a train that clat- ters past on tracks over which the two-tier road will eventually rise. This roadway, which will also con- nect the Western and Eastern Ex- press Highways, is the lynchpin of Mumbai’s most ambitious road makeover – financially, logistically and technically
In all, nearly 60 km of . new roads will be built in the makeover. The other key project in this Rs 6,288 crore road makeover is one to widen the road between Jogeshwari in the west and Vikhroli in the east from two lanes to six lanes. Other major under- takings include widening the two highways and the two key north-south arteries, S.V Road in . the west and L.B.S. Marg in the east. (See, Sta- tus check’ for a list of key projects in this road makeover) But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. The Santacruz-Chembur road, for in- stance, was to be completed by the end of 2005, two years after work began, but Mhaiskar now says it will be ready only by the end of 2009 – a colossal delay of four years. The Jogeshwari- Vikhroli road widening project was to be com- pleted by the end of 2007, three years after work began, but the new deadline is end- 2008, a delay of two years. “It is a huge planning chal- lenge,” admitted Mhaiskar. “This roadway is being built in the mid- dle of bustling colonies, where thousands of people have lived for generations. We have to move hun- dreds of houses, shops, religious places and government offices to make way for the road, and it takes time to convince people to move.” (See, The human factor’) In March 2006 the World Bank also temporarily suspended finan- cial assistance to the Santacruz- Chembur road, following concern over resettlement and rehabilita- tion of project-affected people, who complained to the Bank about irregularities. Af- ter settling various legal disputes, the planning authority finally got the project back on track this July, and Mhaiskar said the only thing that remained was the engineering and construction work. But one wonders why policymakers did not anticipate some of the problems. After all, re- settlement and rehabilitation are not challenges unique to Mumbai. Other crowd- ed cities in Asia have also dealt with similar obstacles, and met deadlines. Take Bangkok. Notorious for traffic snarls, the city has built 300 km of expressways over the past 10 years. The resettlement process there is not very different from ours – the authorities identify those who will be displaced by the project and offer them compensa- tion. “It is easy to build roads in the Thai capital as only two agencies are involved,” Prapat Chongsan- guan, governor of Thailand’s Mass Rapid Transit Authority and former chief of the Bangkok Expressways Authority, told HT in his Bangkok office, “Land acquisition is easy because the government provides complete as- sistance.” The resettlement issue might have been solved, but experts see more fundamental flaws in the road makeover.
For one, some of them believe it is short- sighted, and does not account for the massive growth in traffic expected over the next few years. The city already has 15 lakh vehicles, and 500 new ones are being registered every day Mhaiskar said that his planning body had . accounted for this growth, but experts remain sceptical. (See Is this enough?’ for problems with Mumbai’s approach to laying, repairing and maintaining roads). Experts also feel that the day-to-day super- vision by technical people at various sites should be much more stringent than they usually are for Mum- bai’s road works, no matter who is implementing the project. “Besides day-to-day supervi- sion, an independent agency should also be appointed to con- duct random checks and who is not afraid to call a spade a spade,” said Sudhir Badami, a civil engi- neer and former member of a road monitoring committee appointed by the high court in 2006. A plan- ning official said that the con- struction of the Santacruz-Chem- bur roadway would by supervised by employees of the Louis Berger Group, the US-headquartered firm that are engineering consultants to the project. Experts hope that whatever roads do get built or augmented as part of the makeover will be of good quality and not go the way of the Andheri-Kurla Road (see Wrong turn’). If nothing else, the road makeover will have pro- vided employment to hundreds of workers: the Santacruz-Chembur roadway alone has 1,500 people working on it. In any case, it is too late to backtrack from a project that has finally taken off after several setbacks.
As if to drive the point home, at the Kurla construction site, yet another tug on the pulley sends another slab upwards, and Mum- bai’s first elevated, two-tier roadway inex- orably inches forward. (With inputs from Naresh Kamath in Mumbai and Madhurima Nandy in Bangkok) rajendra.aklekar@hindustantimes.com You can get to Kurla east, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus or the Amar Mahal junction once you get onto the roadway in Santacruz east Whether from Santacruz or Kurla, you can use this lower deck to take you to the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus This heads to the Amar Mahal junction in Chembur From Santacruz, the railway terminus or Amar Mahal, you can go to Nehru Nagar in Kurla east. A graphical representation of Santacruz-Chembur Link Road as per the MMRD
A model Key road projects: Status check The MMRDA is executing the city’s most ambitious road makeover at a cost of Rs 6,288 crore. Here is a list of the main projects, and how far they have progressed, according to the planning authority. Santacruz-Chembur Link Road This will be a 6.45 km, 6-lane road elevated at major junctions. Status: 23 per cent complete Deadline: End-2009 What not to do: the Andheri-Kurla Road S USHANT RAI, 35, a salesman at a multinational firm, dreads the three days every week when he has to travel from his Nariman Point office to the Leela Business Park in Marol to meet clients. That’s because he has to brave the dug-up, traffic- choked, poorly lit Andheri-Kurla Road – one of the city’s busiest corridors, and one that connects the east- ern suburbs to the international airport. A trip through this road takes thrice the time it should if the road were in reasonable shape. “It is a nightmare travelling on this road,” said Rai. Just two years ago, the Mumbai Metropolitan Re- gional Development Authority widened this road from four to eight lanes, concretised and laid it with paver- blocks – those squiggle-shaped, brick-size slabs. The planning authority is yet to hand over the road for maintenance to the municipal corporation because it is still completing the work. But now cracks have appeared in the concrete around the road’s manholes, those stretches laid with paver-blocks have sunk, large sections are uneven and the rest dug up. To make matters worse for drivers un- familiar with the area, the streetlights don’t work along some stretches. Traffic jams are endemic; vehicles routinely break down. Yet the authorities deny there is a problem. “Only the portions next to the manholes are damaged,” said Dilip Kawatkar, joint commissioner of the planning authority “We could not do any repairs due to rain, but . now work is going on in full speed and will be done by March 2009.” That, however, begs the question why a road needs such extensive repairs so soon after it has been built. – Naresh Kamath Western Express Highway It will be widened at selected stretches between Bandra and Dahisar from six to eight lanes. Status: 50 per cent complete
Deadline: End-2009 Flyovers 16 flyovers are planned, most of them along the Eastern and Western highways. Status: Work has begun only on 6 flyovers, which are to completed by end-2008 Deadline: The remaining flyovers are to be built by March 2009 Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road This existing road is being widened from two lanes to six. Status: 70 per cent complete Deadline: End-2008 The stretch of road alongside IIT-Powai will soon be widened to complete the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road. SV Road This arterial north-south road will be widened from four to six lanes. Status: 80 per cent complete Deadline: End-2009 LBS Marg This existing north-south road will be widened from four to six lanes. Status: 65 per cent complete Deadline: End-2009 Eastern Express Highway This will be widened throughout from Sion to Mulund from six to eight lanes. Status: 50 per cent complete Deadline: end-2009 Cracks have appeared around the road’s manholes, the stretches laid with paver-blocks have sunk, large sec- tions are uneven and the rest dug up.
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Published on November 26 2007, Page 10
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