Mumbai cycling track delayed again, phase 1 to open in March

The project has already seen a couple of delays as it was initially scheduled to be opened during Diwali in October.

Overshooting its December-end deadline, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now open the first phase of the cycling track along Tansa pipeline in March, 2018.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now open the first phase of the cycling track along Tansa pipeline in March, 2018. (CMO Maharashtra/Twitter))

The first phase is a 1.5 km-long stretch along the pipeline in Mulund.

The project has already seen a couple of delays as it was initially scheduled to be opened during Diwali in October. However, the BMC was unable to finish demolishing encroachments along the pipeline, owing to the monsoon.

The Bombay high court, had in 2011, asked the BMC to demolish hutments within 10 metre-radius of the pipeline.

Out of the 16,628 hutments identified along the Tansa pipeline, the BMC has so far demolished 9,632 in four phases.

The pipeline spans across 10 administrative wards and falls under areas such as Mulund, Bhandup, Sahar, Vakola, Hussein Hill, Khar East, Mahim, Dharavi, Ghatkopar, Kurla East, Bandra East and Anda Depot.

The municipal body is facing problems in removal of encroachments in Matunga, Bandra East and Kurla, which has the highest number of encroachments in the city.

The project is being seen as a way to promote a culture of cycling in the city. 

With an aim to project cycling as the future mode of transportation for citizens, the civic body has already started the construction of a compound wall in the suburbs along the water pipeline. The state government plans to implement cycling tracks along the arterial roads of 10 leading cities in Maharashtra.

The 39-km long Tansa water pipeline is divided into two parts — from Mulund to Dharavi and from Ghatkopar to Sion.

The track will create the shortest route connecting north-south and east-west parts of Mumbai. The initiative is also being seen as a way to curb encroachment along the water pipeline.

It will also provide citizens with an economic and environment friendly mode of transportation, apart from railways, buses, autos and metros in the city.

The track will have 40 entry and exit points and will be connected to 19 railway stations, seven metro and four monorail stations.