Santacruz to Chembur in 17 mins by Dec 2012

Six years behind schedule, India’s first double-deck bridge — Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) — is finally inching towards completion.

Six years behind schedule, India’s first double-deck bridge — Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) — is finally inching towards completion.

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Nodal agency Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) recently cleared a major impediment in the completion of the much-delayed SCLR by demolishing two buildings in Netaji Nagar, Kurla (West), following which the project is expected to be complete by December 2012, eight years after it was commissioned.

The two buildings were located right in the centre of the proposed alignment of the SCLR.

The residents of Kurla’s Netaji Nagar, who had been opposing the SCLR construction for the past several years, agreed to vacate their property after prolonged and tedious negotiations with the development authority. These tenants will now be relocated to Bharat Nagar in Bandra-Kurla Complex.

“The flat owners of the two buildings in Netaji Nagar will be housed in tenements admeasuring 450 sqft of carpet area as per the high court directives,” said Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director, MMRDA.

All the 64 flat owners have been paid compensation of Rs3.6 lakh each to cover their rentals for a period of 36 months during which HDIL will construct new houses for them. “We are planning to complete SCLR by December 2012,” Kawathkar said.

However, once the SCLR is complete, motorists can zip on this six-lane part elevated road and reach Chembur from the western suburbs in flat 17 minutes.

The relief and rehabilitation of project affected people and delay in clearances from the Central Railway over permission to build the road on railway lines delayed the project.