Mumbai Coastal Road Project can be opened only by Feb: Civic officials

“At present, civil work is ongoing in all existing sections of the project and most of the balance work that is left include mechanical and electrical works, putting up of traffic signages and road signals. Overall, 82.5 per cent of the work has been completed and a significant portion of the remaining work is left between the proposed Worli Interchange and Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL),” an official privy to this project told The Indian Express.

“We have been instructed to finish the construction work by mid-February, and work is going on full swing with regular monitoring to ensure that we meet the deadline,” the official added.

The MCRP was supposed to be opened by November, 2023, however the deadline for this project was pushed to the first half 2024 after members from the local fishing community staged a protest demanding the gap between the two pillars of the bridge that would connect the BWSL with MCRP should be at least 200 metres, while the BMC had stated that the would be 60 metres.

In January 2023, CM Shinde intervened into this issue following which a decision on increasing the gap was taken.

“Earlier this year, the chief minister and deputy chief minister intervened and a decision on increasing the gap to 120 metres was taken. Due to this, we had to change the entire design of the proposed bridge, and for this reason the deadline is going to be pushed by seven months,” Iqbal Singh Chahal, municipal commissioner and state appointed administrator said on November 9.

The 10.58-kilometre MCRP will connect Marine Drive in south Mumbai with BWSL in Worli through a series of arterial roads, traffic interchanges and an underground tunnel. The project will have three interchanges at Amarsons garden, Haji Ali and Worli for switching of vehicles from the arterial bridge to the main carriageway of the road.

Civic officials said that in the first phase, only the stretch between Marine Drive and Worli Interchange will be opened. The rest of the stretch that would join the arterial road with the BWSL will be started after the new bridge is constructed.

“The initial phase that we will open will only cater to south bound traffic that would move towards Marine Drive, motorists can switch to the MCRP through one of the three interchanges. The construction work of the bridge is ongoing in full swing and we are aiming to finish it by the end of May,” the official said.

The Rs 12,000-crore MCRP will have two roads for north- and south- bound four lanes each. Apart from this, each of the roads will have an additional lane dedicated for public buses. It will also have a 2.07km underground tunnel that will originate from Girgaon and run beneath the Arabian Sea, adjoining the Girgaon Chowpatty, and move northwards from underneath the Malabar Hill. The other end of these tunnels will be at the Priyadarshini Park.