The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave a green signal to two major road connectivity projects ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls.
The BMC issued construction orders for the access control projects, which included establishing a connection between the Eastern Motorway and the Coastal Road and a link between the Western Express Highway (WEH) and the Eastern Express Highway (EEH). Both projects are worth INR 3,700 crore.
The BMC was eager to approve the main proposals after receiving almost a thousand ward-level bidders. On March 4, the proposals for an access control project for INR 3,000 crore and a connecting flyover between the Eastern Freeway (Orange Gate) and Diana Talkies Road (near Grant Road) worth INR 700 crore were approved by BMC Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal. The civic body released a letter of intent (LOI) on the same day, Chahal said.
In record time, the plan for an elevated route between the Coastal Road and the Eastern Freeway was approved. On January 20, tenders were invited for the flyover from the Eastern Freeway (Orange Gate), which terminates at Frere Bridge East. The opposite arm will also travel to Diana Talkies Marg (Grant Road) via Pathe Bapurao Marg.
The project has an estimated cost of INR 662 crore. On February 29, the last part of the tender was opened. The BMC typically needs two to three months to approve a proposal and issue a work order. However, in this instance, the BMC worked on the weekends and issued a work order in less than three days.
During the first week of December 2023, the BMC released a call for bids for access control roads. The project's goal, according to BMC officials, was to ease congestion at busy intersections on the Eastern and Western Express routes. Nine locations in total were chosen to start the traffic improvement project.
Six of these are on the Eastern Express Highway, while three are on the Western Express Highway. There will be several options for access, including a flyover, U-turn flyover, double raised flyover, road elevation, and underpass. The project was expected to cost around INR 2,900 crore. The deadline for submitting bids was January 2024.
Apart from these two projects, the civic body is also working on improving connectivity in other parts of the city. A call for bids from contractors was made by the BMC for the planning and building of a bridge connecting Versova and Madh.
The Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) permissions for the construction of this connector were granted to the Civic Bridges department in January 2024. This project is anticipated to cost around INR 1800 crore.
In addition, the civic organisation has released a call for bids to select contractors for the planning and building of an elevated road that will connect the Bandra terminal in Bandra East with the Khar subway in the West.
For this project, the estimated contract cost is INR 1300 crore. For both projects, the construction phase will take about three years each. To be more precise, the contracts for the Madh-Versova bridge and the Khar-Bandra connector are 36 and 42 months, respectively, and both of them include the monsoon season.
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