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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) ?918-crore initiative to build two flyovers connected to the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road (GMLR) may experience further cost escalation due to the potential addition of a new flyover arm leading to Maharashtra Nagar. Although this additional arm is not yet included in the current tender, officials are awaiting necessary approvals.
The project already surpasses the original cost of the GMLR, which opened just three years ago at over ?500 crore. A BMC official noted that the existing proposal encompasses the construction of Arm-1 and Arm-2 flyovers at the T Junction on the Sion-Panvel Highway, specifically in Maharashtra Nagar of M/E Ward. The additional arm toward Maharashtra Nagar is under consideration, pending railway permissions.
"This arm is not part of the current project scope and will be included once we secure the necessary approvals," the official stated. Arm-1 is intended to lead from the GMLR toward Vashi, while Arm-2 will connect Vashi back to the GMLR.
Ravi Raja, the former opposition leader in the BMC, criticized the timing of the new flyover proposal, asserting that it reflects poor planning during the GMLRs construction. "If the need for these two flyovers arises just three years after the GMLR was built, it shows a lack of foresight," he remarked.
Concerns about ongoing traffic issues were also raised by Faiyaz Alam Shaikh, president of the New Sangam Welfare Society NGO in Govandi. "We have yet to fully benefit from the GMLR, which opened in 2021," he noted. "Heavy vehicles continue to use the road below the flyover, particularly late at night, causing regular congestion at the Baiganwadi and Shivaji Nagar signals." |
