MCZMA wants changes in Worli-Sewri elevated road project

UPS Madan, metropolitan commissioner at the MMRDA, said, “MCZMA suggested that we provide some access and exit ramps along the elevated road at intervals. Otherwise, we had proposed for an end-to-end elevated road from Worli to Sewri with no accesses in between. They have asked us to reconsider the alignment a bit.”

The Worli-Sewri road was originally planned as a connector to the showpiece Sewri-Nhava Mumbai Trans Habrour Link, which got derailed last year as the project did not draw any bids. However, officials say the elevated road will also benefit the city as a standalone project as it will provide an east-west connector in the southern part of the city. The elevated road, which will be complete in four years once construction begins, will begin at Narayan Hardikar Marg in Worli and end near Sewri railway station. The project execution is likely to be complex as it requires the rehabilitation of close to 800 families living along the corridor and permissions from the Central and Western Railways to take the road over suburban railway tracks.

The MMRDA had last year invited bids from construction contractors for the project and had received responses from five companies.

Madan said, “We will examine how the project can be redesigned and whether it will have any significant impact on the cost. If it is a minor change, then we will ask the bidders to give us a quotation.”

Simplex Infrastructure, which has also constructed the elevated section of the Eastern Freeway from P D’Mello Road to Wadala, had emerged as the lowest bidder. However, with Simplex’s bid being nearly 16-17 percent below the estimated cost, the MMRDA had asked for a justification from the company on their cost projection.
Larsen & Toubro, which is the civil contractor for the monorail and the Sahar elevated road, had emerged as the second-lowest bidder.

manasi.phadke@expressindia.com