Get them built

The Maharashtra government has repeatedly said that the imminent coming-into-force of the Election Commissions Model Code of Conduct will not be allowed to delay the commissioning of the first extension of Mumbais Worli-Bandra Sealink: the stretch between Worli and Haji Ali. Time is running out; this week the governments power to take decisions ends. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan must sign off on the project which is waiting basically just for his approval immediately.

The hoopla surrounding the inauguration of the Sealink was incongruous,as these columns pointed out at the time: the project was massively delayed. No mention was made,in that celebratory period,of the man-hours that Mumbai wasted in traffic while clearances were ploddingly procured,local residents brought on board,and do-gooders placated. But the state needs to show that it has learnt from the experience. It needs to show,through effective support of the project and through political neutralisation of objections,that the mistakes that caused the Worli-Bandra delays will not be allowed to happen again. Chavan has said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi specifically asked for the process to be expedited; he should see this as a signal to expend political capital on getting it done. Signals that the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra is willing to cast off the laziness that has characterised much of its approach to its states fast-growing cities might well be essential if it is to mount a successful defence during the assembly campaign of its lacklustre performance in office.

The government further believes that work can be completed in two and half to three years time. True,it can. But will it? More,does the government have what it takes to view that as a hard-and-fast deadline rather than as some sort of optimistic,rosy vision of the future? Maharashtras political class cant afford to sit back on these giant,transformative projects. There is little doubt that Mumbais very future as a global city depends on three things: the timely completion of the Sealink,and its extension to Versova and Nariman point within half-a-dozen years; the clearing and construction,in a similar timeframe,of the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link,the 23-km sealink connecting Sewri in peninsular Mumbai with Nhava in Raigad,

on the mainland; and the Navi Mumbai international airport project,due to come up in the Panvel-Kopra area. In each of these,Mumbais future has been held to ransom sometimes by government sloth,sometimes by corporate egos,sometimes by last-man-standing environmentalists. None of these should be allowed to matter any more.