New projects unlikely, BMC to focus on completion

“We cannot keep surprising Mumbaikars every year, our idea is to focus on the master plan for roads and major projects such as Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) and the Coastal Road project. Even the SWD department will focus on completion of the BRIMSTOWAD project,” a senior civic official from the roads department said.

Last year, the civic body had announced its master plan for three years (from 2014-16) which details repairs to be undertaken on major and minor roads in the city. The plan was only recently unveiled by the civic body. Similarly, the civic body only recently revived the long-pending GMLR project, the last and the longest of the city’s three planned east-west links, expected to be completed in four years. The environmental clearance for the coastal road project, estimated to be built at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore is pending with the state government.

With a cost over-run of more than Rs 2,000 crore, the Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drainage System (BRIMSTOWAD) project, aimed at easing flooding in Mumbai during the monsoons, is another overdue project for the SWD department. Another major department, the fire brigade, which was expected to launch 10 mini fire stations and a fire safety cell in 2014-15, has failed to keep its promises. A senior official confirmed that the department would focus on the phase-wise set up 26 new fire stations in the city, of which eight are expected to be completed by the year-end.

In the health department, the civic body will focus on the list of projects announced in the previous fiscal. Of the five CT scan and three MRI machines sanctioned last year, only one CT scan and one MRI have been installed at Dr R N Cooper Hospital, Vile Parle, which are still awaiting inauguration. Additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh said the tenders for the remaining machines had been called. “By April or May, we should be able to install the remaining machines,” he said.

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