Not Rs1,800 crore, Goregaon-Mulund link road will cost Rs3,800 crore

Mumbai transport experts said they were unamused by how the civic body was spending taxpayers’ money

The cost of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road — the civic body’s project to improve connectivity between the city’s eastern and western suburbs — has escalated massively, owing to a change its design. The estimated cost of the project is now Rs3,800 crore. This means that over the past three years, the costs of the GMLR, the fourth east-west connector, has increased by 65%.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) latest decision to add three flyovers, one underpass, one rotary or a roundabout and a box tunnel to ease the traffic congestion has added another Rs1,100 crore to the project. (HT File)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) latest decision to add three flyovers, one underpass, one rotary or a roundabout and a box tunnel to ease the traffic congestion has added another Rs1,100 crore to the project. When the project took off in 2014, its original estimated cost Rs1,300 crore.

This was later pegged at Rs1,800 crore after the BMC added an underground tunnel passing through the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) to obtain environmental permissions and avoid tree-cutting.

Now, the civic body has modified its original plan. To ease traffic from the Western Express Highway to Oberoi mall in Goregaon, it will construct an underpass instead of a road for motorists. After BMC officials realised that the traffic congestion at four junctions from AN Vaidya Marg to Film City Road would slow down motorists, it decided to construct a flyover, which will lead to 1.6-km-long box tunnel.

“We have added these roundabouts and flyovers to manage traffic better and avoid creating bottlenecks,” said Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, projects.

Transport experts, however, said they were unamused by how the civic body was spending taxpayers’ money. “All these projects are designed and envisioned for motorists only. As an authority that plans for the entire city, the civic body should focus on bettering public transport,” said Ashok Datar, transport expert.