CM inaugurates 3 key infra works in Mumbai
In the run-up to the polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) scheduled early next year, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated three key infrastructure projects for Mumbai – an arm of Kalanagar flyover connecting Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) with Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), presided over a function in which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the BMC and an Israel-based firm for city’s first desalination project at Manori in Malad, and chaired a function of handing over of a 2,170-bed Covid hospital in Mulund by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to the BMC.
The Thackeray-led party — Shiv Sena — has been ruling the civic body in the city for more than two decades. The BMC, richest civic body in India with an annual budget of over ₹39,000 crore, is considered to be the Sena’s political strength. With snapped political ties between the Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), retaining the power in the BMC is assumed to be a Herculean task for the Sena. In the 2017 civic polls, the BJP emerged the second-largest party with 82 seats, after the Sena winning 84 seats in the 227-member body.
The chief minister said his family has been residing in the area since 1966 and he has a lot of memories. “The area is much populated now and BKC has also developed, which is leading to traffic snarls. The arm of the flyover will help in easing the traffic at Kalanagar junction,” Thackeray said, after inaugurating one of the arms of the project. Thackeray inaugurated the second 804-m-long and 7.5-m-wide arm, which is the longest arm of the three-direction flyover at Kalanagar. The first 653.5-m long arm, which connects BKC with BWSL, was opened on February 21. The third arm with a length of 340-m having two lanes will connect Dharavi T-junction with BWSL. The three-arm project criss-crossing over the Kala Nagar flyover will help in decongesting the Kalanagar junction at Bandra and smoothen the commute between the island city and western suburbs. The cost of the project is ₹103.73 crore.
An MoU was signed between the BMC and Israel-based firm — IDE Water Technologies Limited – for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for the desalination project. The chief minister said it is like a dream coming true. “The desalination is not just important, but a revolutionary step for Mumbai. I’m happy to see it happening. It’s like a dream comes true,” Thackeray said. Coming up at a 30-acre plot at Manori, Malad, the project will cost ₹1,600 crore and is expected to be completed by 2025. It was approved by the state cabinet in November last year. While handing over the hospital, the CM said they have to be very careful in the backdrop of warnings of a possible third wave hitting the state. “The spread of the Delta Plus variant is rising and we will have to strictly follow all Covid rules despite the daily cases going down,” Thackeray said.
Considering the third wave a reality, four more Covid centres are planned in the city to ramp up health infrastructure to deal with any shortage of hospital beds, in case the possible third wave is bigger than the second one. It has 1,536 oxygen beds, 190 ICU beds, 200 paediatric oxygen beds and 50 paediatric ICU beds.
