Voters feel infrastructure push came too late

Although undoubtedly satisfied with the freeway, which has cut his daily hour-long commute to half, Desai, who has not been a Congress voter till now, says the freeway is not a strong enough reason for him to start voting for the party. “Many of the projects were delayed waiting for approvals from the Railways and other Central government agencies. The Congress had a government at the Centre as well so the excuse of Centre vs state doesn’t hold,” Desai said.

At least six key transport-infrastructure works — a Metro, a monorail, the Eastern Freeway, the Milan subway over-bridge, the SCLR and an elevated road providing direct access to the airport —were completed over the past two years. The projects have altogether billed Rs 7,522.77 crore with cost overruns of 2,806.77 crore, and enormous time overruns adding 5,528 extra construction days.

However, this was the first major new transport-infrastructure addition in the city and the Congress has been playing it up. So much so, that former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had himself embarked on a journey in August giving the media a guided tour of the newly completed works.

Pravin Chedda, Congress’ candidate for Ghatkopar East constituency, said infrastructure development is his priority while campaigning for votes. “The government has given Ghatkopar connectivity via Metro, Eastern Freeway, there is another Metro line that has been planned from Thane to Wadala to connect Ghatkopar. Even new voters are hundred percent getting influenced,” he said.

Pramod Rao, a 43-year-old vice president in an MNC, says he travels using the sea link every day. The toll fee is a bit taxing, but he says the commute made his work life smoother. “With our clients coming, I have even taken them on the sea link. Many are global travellers and they always have that moment when they sigh, when the car covers the carriageway. Earlier with the parties together, I was at least aligned on my views. It was going to be on infrastructure, something the hoardings have been telling me. But now with Infrastructure promise divided between BJP, which also stands for governance and Prithviraj Chavan-backed state Congress, it is still a tough call. But I still wonder, at least I know I have a bridge now. I am yet to see this new PM deliver.”

Shrirang Joshi (36), a chartered accountant, says, “I use the freeway multiple times. It helps me immensely when I commute between south Mumbai and Pune and also hurries me in my meetings to bankers. But I feel Congress took long to give me that road,” he said. Similarly, for Sarojani Gaikwad (34), a management consultant, who lives in Vashi and travels daily to Vile Parle for work, the SCLR has been a great advantage by decongesting her regular route via the Sion-Dharavi Link Road.
manasi.phadke@expressindia.com

KEY PROJECTS INAUGURATED IN THE LAST TWO YEARS

Congress has been projecting transport-infrastructure development in Mumbai as its main poll pitch, talking about it in speeches at public functions, and even through video advertisements shown in cinema halls. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan attended all the inauguration ceremonies, each time explaining the difficulties of working in a “brown-field” environment in Mumbai. The chief minister also took the media on a ‘new transport-infrastructure tour’ of Mumbai in August, sitting at the front of a bus with a microphone in hand, highlighting the achievements of the state and explaining the hurdles in
completing the projects.

#  11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Constructed in: 6 years

#  6.45-km Santacruz Chembur Link Road Construct in: 11 years

#  17-km Eastern freeway Constructed in: Five years for first phase till Chembur and six years for the entire road

#  8.8-km Chembur-Wadala monorail Constructed in: 5.5 years

#  2-km Sahar elevated road Constructed in: 6 years

#  700-metre Milan rail over-bridge Constructed in: 4 years

smita.nair@expressindia.com