BMC budget 2023-24: Cost of Goregaon Mulund Link Road project rises by 60 pc in 3 yrs
According to this year's budget, BMC has pegged the estimated balance cost of the GMLR project at Rs 10,100.91 crore as of December 2022.
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The project is likely to be completed by May 2028, according to BMC in its latest budget. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ongoing Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project for additional connectivity between eastern and western suburbs in North Mumbai has seen a cost escalation of 60.42 per cent in the past three years, and an escalation of 28.7 per cent in the past year alone, according to figures from the civic body’s budget 2023-24, presented on Saturday (February 4).
The increase in the project cost has been attributed to additional aspects included in the project, such as safety measures of fire proofing the tunnel, laying utility chamber under the tunnel to prevent future digging, additional electric work for better lighting, involvement of foreign crew for construction, and cost escalation due to a delay in the project work. According to this year’s budget, BMC has pegged the estimated balance cost of the GMLR project at Rs 10,100.91 crore as of December 2022. While some work in the project is underway, senior officials confirmed that BMC has spent about Rs 100 crore on the construction work so far. So, the project’s total estimated cost is to the tune of Rs 10,100.91 crore, against last year’s estimation of Rs 7847.66 crore, indicating an escalation of 28.7 per
cent within a year. In 2020, the cost of the project was estimated at Rs 6,296.23 crore, as per the budget 2020-21, pointing at an escalation of Rs 60.42 crore.
A four-phase construction
The BMC has planned the construction of the GMLR project in four phases. The first phase is the construction of the Nahur Road overbridge, which is 70 per cent done, and is likely to be completed by May 2023. The second phase entails road widening work at Goregaon East and Mulund West, and is 65 per cent complete.
In the third phase, BMC will construct a flyover at Goregaon East’s Ratnagiri Hotel junction, a flyover at Mulund East’s Hedgewar junction, and an elevated rotary at Khindipada’s GG Singh Road junction. The cost of this alone has been estimated at nearly Rs 840 crore, according to a senior official. This phase also includes the construction of a box tunnel at Goregaon East, and underground twin tunnels at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. This portion may cost around Rs 7,000 crore. In the fourth phase, construction of an underpass across the Western Express Highway, and a flyover at Mulund East’s Airoli junction will be done.
Reasons behind escalating cost
BMC’s 2017-18 budget, which tied up all of the civic body’s fixed deposits to infrastructure construction work, reserved merely Rs 2,347.72 crore for the GMLR project. “At that time, estimates were drawn on the basis of a simple surface design of the GMLR. But after studying it, it realised it was not a feasible option,” said a senior official.
In 2019-20, BMC enhanced the alignment of the GMLR, planned twin tunnels and another flyover, that eventually resulted in an estimation of Rs 6,296.23 crore in budget 2020-21. “Our consultant had done a simple analysis, and the cost estimation for the project at that time. Many aspects began to get fine-tuned at the pre-bid meetings. When contractors make suggestions based on their experiences, BMC sets up a committee with independent experts from IIT, VJTI and retired officials to check the feasibility of those suggestions, and then a decision is taken whether to include them,” said another officer.
“It was pointed out during the pre-bid meeting that the tunnel needs to be fire-proof, to minimise the loss of lives, in case of a fire incident. This alone added around Rs 450 crore to the estimation. Similarly, BMC received environment clearances on the condition that a water pipeline of a large diameter be laid under the tunnel already, so there is no need to dig it up in the future, which added around Rs 450 crore to the project cost, according to officials… Time has also been a contributing factor to the cost rise,” the official added.
The project is likely to be completed by May 2028, according to BMC in its latest budget.
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