A new Mumbai: How a mega infra push redefined the city skyline

Earlier dominated by skyscrapers and multi-storey buildings, the Maximum City’s skyline is today dotted with arterial roads, traffic interchange loops and elevated metro corridors. Besides roads, the introduction of two new Metro lines have changed the way 2.35 lakh Mumbaikars travel on weekdays. Of the city’s current 40.4 km Metro network in the suburbs, 29 km became operational between 2022 and 2023. Over the next five years, the government aims to scale up the network to 300 km, including elevated and underground tracks, across the city. On July 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for infrastructure projects worth Rs 22,991 crore in Mumbai to upgrade the city’s road and railway transport and road network system.

While ideas for some of these projects were mooted back in the 1960s — including the Coastal Road and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) Road corridor, which connects the city with its satellite districts of Navi Mumbai and Raigad — they gathered dust for decades for reasons ranging from flaws in the tendering process to the lack of technical expertise and political will. Mumbai’s peninsular shape was a major hurdle when it came to expanding the city.

With a road network of just 2,000 km — New Delhi has 28,508 km of roads — Mumbai has the highest density of cars in the country at 650 cars per km, four times that of the national capital. In 2020, the TomTom Traffic Index, a report released annually by the Amsterdam-based organisation, ranked Mumbai as the world’s second-most congested city. Today, Mumbai is seventh of 387 on the same list.

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) Road corridor, renamed Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri–Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, is India’s longest sea bridge at present. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

“According to rules, roads should make up 10% of the overall landmass in a metro city. However, Mumbai is surrounded by water on all three sides. To build more roads and infrastructure, one has no option but to turn towards the sea,” Vivek Pai, an urban planner and transportation expert, told The Indian Express.

However, any reclamation of the sea would have needed modification of CRZ (coastal regulation zone) rules, a process that would have required several bureaucratic and political interventions, both at the Centre and the state, thus delaying several planned infrastructure projects. It was in 2017 that the CRZ norms were finally modified, following which, over the last few years, the authorities have reclaimed around 111 hectares of the sea.

The reclamation added 36.84 km to the city’s existing road network, including 21.18-km to the Coastal Road’s main (north-south) carriageway and 15.66 km to the high-speed coastal road corridor.

Senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was Chief Minister when the CRZ norms were modified, said during the inauguration of phase 1 of the Coastal Road project, “The project was planned decades ago, but not implemented since it required modification of CRZ rules. Between 2004 and 2014, the UPA was in power at the Centre and the state. However, no one tried to push the Centre to modify these norms. It was only after we (the BJP) came to power at the Centre and in the state that this project got the much-needed push. After just five meetings with the Union ministry, we were able to modify existing CRZ rules.”

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA Aaditya Thackeray however told The Indian Express that the ball on several of these infrastructure projects, including Coastal Road, was set rolling by then undivided Shiv Sena that was in a coalition with the BJP in the state and in power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sweri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu (Express Illustration by Abhishek Mitra)

“The BJP has nothing to do with the Coastal Road, apart from delaying environmental permits. It is entirely the work of (former Chief Minister) Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. Had we been in power (in the state), the entire project would have been completed by December 2023. I consistently followed up on the project’s issues since 2014. In fact, every project update was up on my Twitter (now X) accounts,” he told The Indian Express.

Mumbai Coastal Road Project

Named Dharmveer Swarajya Rakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Coastal Road, a 10.58-km section of the 29.2-km MCRP connects Marine Drive with the Bandra Worli Sea Link. It allows motorists direct access to the Western Express Highway in 10 minutes in peak traffic — unlike nearly an hour earlier. Estimated to cost Rs 13,893 crore, the MCRP is the BMC’s most expensive project to date.

Originally envisioned in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) 1967 Development Plan (DP) model as the ‘West Island Freeway’, the execution of MCRP gained momentum only after the modification of CRZ rules made it easier to reclaim land from the sea.

An official associated with the project said the BMC and the state had approached the Centre in 2015 with a blueprint for permission to reclaim the sea to build the coastal road. The official added, “The final clearance was granted in 2017 by the Union Environment Ministry only after a thorough Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and on the condition that the nod was just to make the road, besides a complete prohibition on any commercial activity there.”

The MTHL corridor connects Mumbai city with its satellite districts of Navi Mumbai and Raigad. (Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)

The final clearance was followed by environmentalists filing petitions on the danger the project could pose to marine ecology and the livelihood of fisherfolk. As a result, construction started only in 2020, after the Supreme Court vacated its stay on the project. On March 11, 2024, the road was opened for movement of north-bound traffic.

“The project involved creating a tunnel passing under the sea and a hill, along with a series of vehicular interchanges, bridges and arterial roads. Despite its complex nature, the Coastal Road project was completed in just four years. Pending ancillary works will be finished by the end of 2024,” said the official.

With the both phases of the project nearly 90% complete, the authorities aim to finish all pending work over the next few months. Worli resident Viren Shah, 45, who has been using the coastal road since it opened, says it should have been constructed a decade ago. “It has cut my travel time to 10 minutes and also reduced my fuel consumption. Had it been built 10 years ago, Mumbai would have developed exponentially by now,” says the entrepreneur.

Mumbai Trans Harbour Link

Christened Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri–Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, the 21.8-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) Road corridor is currently the longest sea bridge in India and the 12th longest in the world. The setu, which originates from Sewri and connects with Chirle in Raigad near Nhava Sheva, traverses the Arabian Sea and Thane creek. Travel time between these two points has come down to 25 minutes from 90 minutes. Before this corridor, Mumbaikars took hours to reach the city’s satellite districts of Navi Mumbai and Raigad by buses and trains.

Just like the Coastal Road, the idea of constructing the modern-day MTHL Road corridor was first mooted in 1963 by US traffic engineer Wilbur Stevenson Smith. His firm, Wilbur Stevenson Smith & Associates, was given the contract for planning the traffic and transportation model for the then Greater Bombay (now the Mumbai Metropolitan Region or MMR).

Smith’s firm prepared the first blueprint after a year-long survey and the total cost then was pegged at around Rs 100 crore. The plan was submitted to the Union Transport Ministry, but never saw the light of day. Had it been implemented then, say transport experts, Mumbai wouldn’t have become as congested as it is today.

Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) Phase 1. (Express Illustration by Abhishek Mitra)

The project was revived in the early 2000s by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which submitted a proposal to construct the arterial road in 2004 and invited bids a year later. Though Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure emerged as a successful bidder at Rs 6,000 crore in 2008, MSRDC labelled its proposal to recover the entire cost in nine years under the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode as “unrealistic”. The firm withdrew its bid after that.

After multiple unsuccessful tendering bids, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2016 decided to bankroll 80% of the Rs 21,200-crore project at an annual interest of 1.5%. With the Union Ministry acting as the guarantor for JICA, the remaining amount was given by the state.

Mumbai Metro’s Lines 2A and 7

The first of Mumbai’s three suburban metro lines — the 11.4-km Metro 1 line linking Versova to Ghatkopar — was commissioned in 2008 and opened in June 2014. Since then, two more elevated metro lines — Line 2A (18.6-km) and Line 7 (16.5-km ) — have been inaugurated. All the metro lines are concentrated in the suburbs.

Abhiraj Yadav, an architect and a transport expert, told The Indian Express, “Till the 1990s, most businesses were based in south Mumbai and suburban residents had to travel there. Over the last two decades, hubs like the business district of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) , NESCO commercial hub in Goregaon, MIDC in Andheri have come up in the suburbs. For people living and working in that belt, the Metro is now a new way to commute.”

In fact, many buses that connected the suburbs to the town have long since been discontinued. As of February 2024, 8.07 crore commuters have used the three Metro lines. Lines 2A and 7 were mooted by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2004. Despite being launched in 2009, construction on Line 2A started only in 2016, after fresh bidding. Line 7 started getting built in August 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of Lines 2A and 7 in April 2022. The remaining phases were opened in January 2023.

With Mumbai’s elevated Metro corridor emerging as an alternative to local trains and BEST buses, the authorities, over the next few years, plan to make six different Metro lines operational across Mumbai’s eastern and western suburbs, starting from the satellite district of Bhayandar to south Mumbai’s Churchgate and Cuffe Parade.

Before the MTHL corridor, Mumbaikars took hours to reach Navi Mumbai and Raigad by buses and trains. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

IT professional Raktim Das, who shifted to Mumbai from Indore in January 2022, says he was happy to discover that his Goregaon office was just 7 km from his Malad house, both in suburbs.

He says, “Since taking an auto or a cab daily was expensive, I started travelling by Mumbai local. But it was extremely tedious. The Malad-Goregaon metro started a year after I moved to the city. It made my commute more comfortable, cheaper and faster.”

AC locals

The existing suburban railways too received a much-needed facelift with the introduction of the first air-conditioned local rake, a first for the country, in December 2017. At present, Central Railway (CR) runs 66 AC services and Western Railway (WR) 96 in Mumbai.

“It was initially believed that AC rakes would run empty (due to the ticket cost) but they get as crowded as local trains during peak hours. This compelled the authorities to replace non-AC rakes with AC ones,” said transport expert Yadav.

Mumbai Metro Rail. (Express Illustration by Abhishek Mitra)

He said the administration should consider rolling out hybrid rakes, with non-AC and AC coaches, just like long-distance trains.

“AC trains have revolutionised local commuting in Mumbai. At times, commuters choose local AC trains over AC cabs because they are cheaper and faster,” says Shreya Pandey, a professional who travels between Andheri and Mumbai Central on weekdays.

More plans in the works

Over the next five years, infrastructure projects that are currently in the works will not only connect Mumbai existing roads but also link the city to Bhayandar and Thane.

One of the biggest projects is the Rs 16,621-crore Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) phase two — a 20.75-km high-speed corridor from Versova to Dahisar. The administration then plans to link Dahisar with Bhayandar via a 7-km elevated corridor, an independent project, that is expected to cost Rs 3,186-crore. Both projects will be executed by the BMC and construction work is expected to start later this year.

The BMC has also taken up the construction of the Rs 12,013-crore Goregaon Mulund Link Road project, that will connect the suburbs in the west to the east via arterial roads and underground tunnels. The MMRDA has also received approval to extend the eastern freeway — which links south Mumbai with Mankhurd — to Thane. Extending the freeway is expected to cost around Rs 3,200 crore. The authority also has plans to link the Marine Drive section of the Coastal Road with the portion of eastern freeway in south Mumbai via a 6.51-km underground tunnel. The project cost is pegged at Rs 7,765 crore.

Metro lines have changed the way over 2 lakh Mumbaikars travel on weekdays. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Urban planners have, however, stressed the need to make Mumbai more pedestrian friendly. Pankaj Joshi, principal director, Urban Centre Mumbai, told The Indian Express, “The entire city is currently growing without walkable footpaths. An average Mumbaikar walks a lot daily to avail all other modes of transport. Yet, footpaths are either being narrowed down for vehicles or have made way for infrastructure projects. Before spending thousands of crores on metro rail and coastal road projects, ‘walkability first’ needs to be taken up on priority.”

Dhaval Ashar, head, urban transport, World Resources Institute (WRI), India, agrees, “Over the next five years, Mumbai is poised to add more than 10,000 BEST buses. This is an opportune moment to focus on making every street in Mumbai pedestrian friendly. Data from past surveys on access to public transport nodes suggests that over 70% of rail commuters access public transport on foot… Our experience shows that designing for pedestrians actually improves traffic efficiency too.”