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Journalism of Courage
August 4: The mega elevated highway project between Andheri and Vile Parle finally kickstarts after 12 years, announced state Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari today. The project has been handed over to the V M Jog Engineering Company.
The cost of the project is slated to be Rs 110 crore. The fly-over will have a lane approximately 1453 metres long and a 3×3 metres in width. Gadkari announced plans to set up toll nakas at three places Thane, Dadar and Dahisar. The project will save the state nearly Rs 850 crore in fuel.
In all, 55 flyovers will be constructed in the city in the next two and a half years, Gadkari announced. Thirty-six of them will be on the Eastern Express Highway, Western Express Highway and the Sion-Panvel Road and 14 on the municipal corporation roads within the city limits. The minister informed that work on the Mahim fly-over was in progress and the tenders for Chheda Nagar fly-over on the Eastern Express Highway and Konkan Bhavan have been approved. The project has been pending for the last six years and the decision has finally been taken in the alliance regime.
It has taken three years for the state government to decide upon the fate of this project. There will be two independent flyovers for the north and south bound traffic along the Western Express Highway in Mumbai, covering the Bahar, Gold Spot and the Andheri-Kurla Road junctions. It would also have three pedestrian subways across the express highway at Hanuman Road, Bahar and Andheri-Kurla junction.
The government had then announced that it would lease out 9000 square metre of space below the fly-over for a period of 99 years to the investors who can commercially make use of it to recover their investments, subject to the then Development Control (DC) Regulations. However, Gadkari in his statement said thatan entrepreneur will be able to utilise about 30,000 square metres of space on a commercial basis under the fly-over and in one of the subways. The state government will also pay a sum of Rs 9.08 crore to the entrepreneur in addition, he added.
The government has made some minor changes in its basic evaluation criteria of a tender bid. Gadkari stated as per the existing rules, the lowest bid has to be accepted, as, if the tenders are accepted only on a financial bid, there is a very little chance to use modern technology and meeting aesthetic requirements. The government has therefore decided to evaluate technical proposals, as well as financial bids. The highest bidder will be awarded the contract for the particular project.
Meanwhile, the minister informed the state government is awaiting remarks of Wildlife Research Institute, Dehradun, which has been entrusted with the work of carrying out a survey on Mumbai-Pune Expressway following objections raised by environmentalists about devastation of the rich flora and fauna along the ghats.
